My Big Baby Brother
by Ammie Hawk
Summary: The Gundam boys have been de-aged, and are sent to live with one Harry Potter, the younger brother of one of their own. Adopted from SC Round Robins.
1. Chapter 1

My Big Baby Brother

By Ammie Hawk

Disclaimer: Not mine, don't own

AN: Okay, this fic was adopted from SC Round Robins, I am doing this with the permission of the other authors who have contributed to this fic. Anyone who has read this fic... I am adding things here and there because, well, I'm probably taking it in a direction that the others probably didn't intend. Anyway, let's get this moving.

Prologue: A Number of Shocks

Heero Yuy suppressed a sigh as he kept an eye on the perimeter. On the other side of the small camp, he could just see Trowa Barton, also keeping watch from the branches of a low tree; Quatre Raberba Winner was reading through some paperwork for WEI that he had brought with him; and Wufei Chang was sitting next to the long range communicator they had brought with them, keeping an eye on it while he polished his katana. Only Duo Maxwell was doing any work for the mission—if you could call it that. To be honest, Lady Une had probably sent them on this venture as another attempt by her and Sally Po to get the boys to relax. All they were supposed to do was check out some strange readings in the middle of nowhere and report back. Simple—and far beneath the talents of the former Gundam pilots.

Duo looked up suddenly as the machine he carrying began to let out slightly faster beeps. Heero clenched his jaw as the tempo of the beeps sped up. It had been annoying enough before. If it didn't mean they would soon be out of here with its dodgy internet connection and record amount of biting flies, he'd have snapped the thing in two just to make it shut up.

"Hey guys, I got it! It's coming from this strange rock here..."

Heero looked up sharply as Duo's voice trailed off. From the corner of his eye, he saw the others looking over, their attention fixed on the braided pilot. "What is it?"

"It looks like some punk ass kid took a Sharpie to it, or it could be some ancient fucked up form of writing, I don't know. What do you guys think?" he turned to look at the others. "It looks rather faded though."

He hesitated for a second and Heero could've sworn he saw a flash of something in his lover's amethyst eyes. It set hundreds of alarm bells ring in his head. Subtly drawing his gun, he moved carefully over to the other pilot. He threw a look at the unibanged pilot, who tensed, ready for action. Wufei and Quatre picked up on the tension and echoed their friends' actions, scanning the clearing for any sign of a threat.

Almost immediately, the blond empath focused on Duo. The former Wing pilot felt something cold wash through his gut at the look on the Arabian's face. No! Something could not be wrong with the braided pilot.

"Duo? Are you feeling okay?" Quatre asked hesitantly, reaching out to touch his comrade.

He moved forward, about to step over the stone to get to their braided counterpart when Wufei, the furthest from the group, shouted out, "No. His uncharacteristic behavior began after he started examining that stone. Stay away from it until we know what's going on."

The former Sandrock pilot hesitated and the Chinese pilot stepped forward, unknowingly forming a perfect equilateral triangle around the stone with Heero and Trowa. Conditions fulfilled, the stone discharged the last of its stored power into the surrounding area, knocking out the five pilots in a wave of intense light. Heero, his attention on the stone that was apparently causing his lover to act so out of character, caught a glimpse of the bright blue light before it reached him but couldn't do anything more than close his eyes. Later, he would be the only one with any idea about what the possible cause could have been.

8888888

Harry Potter rolled his eyes as his best friend Hermione Granger glanced around the kitchen again, trying to find something out of place that she could focus her nervous energy on. It wasn't as if anything needed to be done though. They had another twenty minutes until the main course was done; the appetizers were all ready and waiting on their serving dishes; and the desert was waiting in a carefully warded refrigerator also ready to be served. Harry had even done all the accumulated dishes thus far. He knew exactly how important this dinner was for the young witch.

"Harry, the prawns? Did you..." she moved over to the trays lining the counter.

"Yes, Hermione," green eyes danced with barely concealed amusement. "I promise your guests won't get food poisoning."

The bushy haired witch shot him a glare before collapsing into a chair, looking harassed. "Harry..."

"It'll be fine," he reassured her yet again.

She began chewing her lip anxiously, "Are you sure? I really need to make a good impression. I'm so close to getting this project done."

"Does that mean you can tell me what it is now?" he asked curiously, the intelligent girl had been dropping hints about this project for the past several months.

Hermione blinked at the interruption and turned to glare at the wizard, "Harry James Potter, if I've told you once, I've told you a hundred time: I can't tell anyone anything about this project until the big unveiling this Saturday."

"Doesn't mean I have to stop asking," Harry shrugged. "You know, if you need funding for something, all you have to do is ask. It's not as if I have anyone else to spend it on."

Brown eyes narrowed into a glare as they leveled on her friend, "Don't talk like that. You are an attractive man. Powerful, intelligent, and compassionate. If Ginny Weasley couldn't see that, then she didn't deserve you in the first place. The right person will come along.

Emerald eyes rolled to the ceiling and he stood up, "Yeah, of course. I'm just going to get changed. We have half an hour, right? Why don't you take some time to check your make-up again?"

Hermione got him with a leg-locker curse before he made it out the door and levitated him over to a chair. He let her, although he had a wandless countercurse ready in case she tried to take things too far.

"Oh Harry," her voice was calmer now, focusing on his problems instead of her own, "you will find someone perfect for you, someday."

"Maybe. But when I do, will they see me? Or will they see the Boy-Who-Lived-To-Defeat-He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or whatever they're calling me these days—the shining hero, like Ginny did? I'm not sure I can take being hurt again when I don't measure up to their perfect standards."

Hermione dropped the curse at the bitter note in her best friend's and pseudo brother's voice. Stepping over, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a tight hug, "Things will work out in the end. You just need to get out more, get some more experience. Go have a meaningless fling... under a glamor of course," the last bit was said with an amused look, and Harry couldn't help but grin back.

"Of course," he shook his head. "Whatever would we do about the scandal otherwise?"

Hermione shot a weak stinging hex at him, which he dodged expertly as he darted out the door, his laughter following behind him. Brown eyes rolled at his antics.

She felt a small pang in her chest as she caught sight of her other best friend, Ron Weasley, smiling happily and waving from the Chuddley Cannons calender he'd sent last Christmas. Hopefully, he'd be coming home soon. Pushing that thought away, she was about to check the dining room table again when Harry's voice floated downstairs.

"I meant it, Hermione, check you're spells. You look all flushed!"

Hermione blinked and conjured a small hand mirror out of thin air. Glancing into it, she winced and hurried upstairs to the bathroom. Harry was right; she really did need to fix her make up.

8888888

"Heero..."

Aforementioned pilot groaned and rolled over, ignoring the voice currently whining near his ear. He was just so tired... and this bed felt so comfortable...

"Aww, doesn't he look so cute!"

That was a different voice, slightly less familiar than the other. Then what the voice had just said sunk in and the Perfect Soldier shot up, reaching automatically for his gun. He was rather annoyed to discover that it wasn't in its normal spot under his pillow. Then his brain kicked into action.

The bed he was in was huge. His uniform had been removed without his knowledge or permission and replaced with a pair of loose white pajamas. And he was located in a room with painted pictures of various safari animals on the wall. It was a very bright, very colorful room, and not the sort of place that Heero had ever willingly gone into. Ever.

"Hey! You're awake!"

Prussian blue eyes blinked and focused on the slightly familiar figure of a young boy sitting next to him. The boy looked to be around six or seven years old, with the same chestnut colored hair as his lover. It was also done back in a long braid, like Duo's. He also had the same wide amethyst eyes.

Heero stared. If he didn't know any better, he'd say this was Duo's clone. Furiously trying to suppress his shock at coming into contact with such an eerie look alike to the former Deathscythe pilot, he managed a weak 'Hn' in reply.

"I don't think he's figured it out yet."

The quiet voice, so similar to Trowa's normal steady tones, right down to the inflection, caused the former Wing pilot to turn to the other side of the bed. There were three more boys sitting there. They looked as eerily familiar as the one on his right. But that was impossible. None of them could have been older than seven years old, at most. He didn't know any little children. But they looked like his friends. His mouth dropped open in an uncharacteristic display of shock as he turned back to look at his mini-lover.

"How?"

"No idea," Mini-Duo shrugged. "Une got all freaked when we didn't check in and sent some pansy ass rookies out to case the area. Took em awhile to find us, cause the beeper blew. Well, ya know the noobs, well they weren't sure who the fuck we were at first. It wasn't till they dragged us back to HQ and spun our blood through the database that they knew for sure."

Heero took a deep, calming breath, closing hie eyes as he tried to process what was said against everything he knew to be impossible, "We were... de-aged?"

"That's what it looks like," Quatre winced. "Lady Une will be back soon to talk to us about it. She seemed worried though. I'm guessing there's a lot more going on than what they've told us so far."

The former Wing pilot scowled and he sent a sharp look at Trowa and Wufei, knowing the other two pilots would be honest with him and not try to soften the blow like the blond was prone to, or make a joke out of it like Duo.

"We can no longer be emancipated," the unibanged boy stated quietly. "Une has a possible suggestion, but in our current... bodies... we are unable to protect ourselves as we normally would."

"True," the former Shenlong pilot nodded sharply in agreement, "Our best chance would be to disappear until a way is found to either reverse this, or until we have otherwise returned to our proper ages. Either way, it will be difficult."

Duo nodded, a bitter twist to his mouth, "I could go back to the streets, I guess, but I kinda like having a bed and a house and... a job," a horrified look crossed his face at the very thought, "Damn it! I've gone and turned respectable."

The blond's lips quirked slightly at the feeble attempt at a joke. He was about to comment, when light footsteps caused the five ex-terrorists to turn toward the door. Commander Une was there, looking stressed. In her arms were six files, one noticeably thicker than the others.

"Then it is a good thing I have found someone willing to adopt the five of you then, isn't it?"

8888888

Harry clutched the letter in his hand tightly, as he carefully placed the phone back down on its cradle. He hadn't wanted to open it or even think about it until Hermione's dinner was over. Looking back, it had probably been a rather good idea. The dinner had gone well. It probably wouldn't have if he had been worrying about... about... Closing his eyes, he focused on using occlumency to clear his mind. He needed to be calm. He needed to...

"Harry?"

Emerald orbs shot open and he saw Hermione watching him worriedly. Her brown eyes were fixed on his. Her make-up spells were now released, leaving her looking slightly washed out. He blinked. A moment later, a hand fluttered into his line of sight, coming toward his face, which he blocked on instinct.

"Hermione," he swallowed, he had to say it, she'd manage to wheedle it out of him anyway. "Mione, I have... that was..." He licked his suddenly dry lips, "That was Commander Une of the Preventers. I... I have a younger brother."

The bushy haired witch blinked and frowned, "Okay... well what are you going to do about it?"

Harry shook his head, feeling shell shocked, "I... I agreed to adopt him. I'm not sure how or why... but she asked and I said yes... and..." He suddenly stopped, his eyes widening, "Bloody hell, I just agreed to adopt five seven year old boys."

Hermione turned to him in shock and slight alarm, "Harry!"

The raven haired wizard just stared into space for a second before focusing on her, "His name's Trowa. He's seven and he's got four friends who apparently don't have anywhere else to go. They could get sent to orphanages but apparently they're all really close and they'd have to be split up and..."

A hand shot out and slapped him hard across the mouth, bringing him out of his slight shock. Hermione dragged him over to a chair and pushed him into it. She sat down opposite him and took a deep breath.

"Okay, say that again, slowly."

"I have a younger brother," Harry said taking his own deep breath, "he's seven years old, and called Trowa. We'll have to check into that, seeing as I know my parents died over seventeen years ago." Here he paused for a moment, "Anyway, the woman I spoke to told me about what they know, and apparently, he hasn't had a good life so far. I want to change that. But basically, he's got four really close friends and there isn't enough space in an orphanage for all five of them. I found myself... agreeing... to take them." He bit his lip as he finished and looked at Hermione, who was just staring at him in shock.

"Harry," she sighed. "You can't just go taking in random kids."

"Well, if it gives them a future then I guess it's fine," the raven haired man shrugged. "And you were telling me before dinner that everything would work out. Maybe this is it, you know, working out."

"How did you even agree to do this anyway?" Hermione ran her hand through her hair in slight frustration.

"Well, she was talking," Harry bit his lip. "And I was in shock, I think. And then I heard 'good friends sent to an orphanage' and I just... Well, I said I'd do it. She sounded really pleased about that, actually."

"I bet she did," the witch scoffed. "Harry did you think about this at all?"

He winced as he took in the incredulous look his best friend was sending him. He knew it was impulsive, and that he was probably just inviting in crazy fans at best or renegade Death Eaters at worst but...

"It just... felt right, you know?"

Hermione took a deep breath, "Okay then, you take them in, I'll test them to see if they are who they say they are, and we'll go from there, okay?"

"Yeah," Harry nodded. "But we're not actually questioning them. If they are Death Eaters, we don't want them to know we're on to them. If they really are just five random kids... well, we don't want to scare them."

"No, we wouldn't want that," she stood up and stretched, sending one last disapproving look at the Boy-Who-Lived before turning to leave the room. "Good luck telling the others. Oh, and you'll probably want to get a delay on entering the Auror training program, maybe do it with the next intake batch in two months? It'll give you time to settle them in and sort things out a bit."

Harry stood up to leave as well, preparing to apparate back home. Already his mind was focusing on everything he'd need to get sorted out before Friday. First, he had to Muggle-proof the house and make sure everything magical was securely warded away; then he'd have to child-proof the house. Maybe set up a ward to alert him if there were any weapons or dangerous items near the children. He should be able to tweak the wards a little to allow that. Then he'd have to contact Kingsley. Yep, he had his work cut out for him.

8888888

"The first thing I should tell you," Lady Une flipped open one of the folders, "is that Trowa, you have a brother. His name is Harry Potter and he would have been younger than you by almost two years but with current circumstances..."

The unibanged boy nodded stiffly, hands clenched in his lap at the thought of his current state. He did not like being helpless and now he had an unknown for a brother. For all he knew, the boy could be the sweetest person around and needing protection from the big wide world and he could not provide it. It was not a nice thought. Pushing that thought aside to think about later, he nodded to Une. She had said first thing, so there must be more that needed to be told.

"Secondly, you're situation is rather unique. In your current states you cannot protect yourselves as you normally would have been able to do, and we cannot just put you up for adoption. There would be no way to guarantee that your enemies would not manage to gain custody and for another..."

"My brother may cause problems," Trowa added.

Next to him, Quatre tensed. He did not want to be separated from his lover.

"From what we were able to discover, he seems to be a nice, quiet, young man. He was left a large inheritance from your parents and his godfather, a large portion of which has been donated to charity. He has also just finished college. As for what he wants to do... Well, when I told him how close the five of you are, he offered to take in all of you."

"He offered?" Wufei blinked in surprise. "For all of us?"

"He was rather, shocked, to say the least, by the information," Une gave a self-satisfied smirk. "I thought you would be happier together. You will be moving into his house at 12 Grimmauld Place on Friday. You have three days to learn about what is considered normal for seven-year-olds. You will have to be careful. We do not want anyone to suspect you are not actually children. It would do nothing but make you and Mr. Potter potential targets."

The former Heavyarms pilot nodded, a serious glint appearing in his eye. It looked very out of place on a seven-year-old's face, but the others all recognized it immediately. It was the same look Trowa got when the colony Catherine was on had been held hostage and was going to be destroyed. It seemed that child body or not, Trowa was going to do his best to protect his baby brother. That would be interesting to watch, particularly as they were going to be the ones everyone would be trying to protect.

"Other then that, however, until the scientists find a way to reverse what was done to you, or at the very least, speed up your growth, you have a second chance here," she sent them a rather amused look. "After all, there are a lot of people who would be very eager to enjoy a second childhood."

Duo blinked and smirked, causing Heero to glance at him warily. All of a sudden the braided pilot could see hundreds of possibilities for different pranks. And the best part of it all? No one would ever suspect an innocent seven-year-old.

The self-proclaimed God of Death snickered at the thought. He wondered how Trowa's big baby brother would react. You could tell a lot about someone from the way they reacted to things after all.

* * *

><p>Ammie: Once again, I have adopted this fic, with permission from the other authors. This chapter was originally written by Dream Of Stories. Anyway, I hope ya'll enjoy my efforts and I should have the next few chapters edited and posted soon.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

My Big Baby Brother

By Ammie Hawk

Disclaimer: Nuff said...

AN: Okay, so here's the second installment... quite a bit has been changed for this chapter... not only does it combine three of the original ones, but I'm adding in a new character :) Anyway, I hope ya'll enjoy and please let me know what you think of the new version.

Chapter 1: The New Family

Harry Potter silently slipped into the house that had been left to him by his late godfather, Sirius Black, and had now become his permanent residence. He had barely removed his jacket and placed it on the coat rack before a set of strong arms encircled him. With a faint smile, he leaned back into the chest of his boyfriend of six months.

He hadn't told anyone, not even Ron and Hermione, about his boyfriend. Not that he was ashamed of him, or his preferences, he was just scared. He didn't want to lose his best friends because they found out he preferred blokes. He would tell them, eventually, just not yet.

"How'd dinner with Hermione go?" he asked, keeping his voice quiet so as not to disrupt the mood.

"It was okay," Harry sighed. "She was nervous as hell. But what else could you expect from her?"

"All too true," his boyfriend chuckled. "Did you finally manage to weasel out of her what she's been working on?"

"No," a pout formed on the full lips. "She still refuses to tell me. However, something else came up that we need to talk about."

"Oh, what's that?" a light kiss was placed on the back of the Boy-Who-Lived's neck.

"Well, I, um," he tilted his head to the side, allowing for better access, "I, um, decided to adopt five boys."

"Excuse me?" his boyfriend turned him around and held him at arm's length. "You did what?"

"Well, I'm adopting five seven year old boys," Harry shrugged lamely, unable to meet the other's eyes.

"Why?"

"Well, I, um, got a letter, before I left, from the Preventers," he knew he was rambling, but he couldn't help it. "I waited till dinner was over, and then I called them. And apparently, I, um, I have a brother, a younger brother. How that happened, I don't know. But I heard that he had four really good friends and so I just found myself agreeing. I couldn't help it."

"Harry," his boyfriend cupped his cheek, "your parents died almost seventeen years ago. You can't possibly have a seven year old brother. I know how much you've always wanted a family, but this is just insane."

"But it is possible," Harry insisted, shaking his head. "You know I've been taking classes at the Muggle college, and in one of them, my science class, we studied DNA. That's the whole thing that makes up who a person is. Anyway, it's impossible to forge a DNA sample. But there is also a process that is used, mostly in space, to make babies. They're grown from the parents DNA, and are called Test Tube babies. So it could be possible that my parents DNA got out there somewhere, and my younger brother was one of those."

"So you think," a frown marred the other's face, "that your brother was grown in one of these test tubes? You know I know very little about Muggle science, but it doesn't sound unreasonable. But I'm still finding it hard to believe that you agreed to adopt five seven year olds, without consulting me."

"I'm... I'm sorry," the raven head bowed dejectedly. "I can call them back and tell them no."

"It means a lot to you, doesn't it?" his boyfriend sighed. "Having your brother come live with us?"

"Yes," Harry said, barely audible.

"Fine, when are they coming?"

"You mean it?" emerald eyes looked up hopefully.

"If it means that much to you, Harry, who am I to say no?" the other chuckled again. "Now, are you going to answer my question?"

"Friday," Harry practically threw himself into his boyfriend's arms. "I'm going to pick them up on Friday."

"Friday, huh? Well, it looks like we've got our work cut out for us in the next day or so."

8888888

The five former Gundam pilots, now seven year old runts, Duo's words, sat with Lady Une in her office, waiting for this Harry Potter who was supposed to adopt them. After two days of unsuccessfully trying to act like convincingly normal children, they had decided that it was no good. They knew too much and had seen too much to pretend to be naïve and carefree. It was surprisingly Duo who came up with their answer for them. Having lived on the streets for as long as he could remember, he knew better than anyone how street kids weren't nearly as sheltered as kids raised by their families. Their cover stories had been purposefully vague so far, and this would just be another part of it.

They decided that the best way to cover their knowledge, their accidental slips, and their scars was to adopt the cover of street kids, using information from Duo's past and building an imaginary gang of five boys from the streets of L2. They had been picked up by a concerned church and had stayed there for nearly a year until the Preventers had found them, and the connection to Trowa's brother. When Trowa refused to leave without his friends, they had agreed to try and keep the boys together.

That morning, when they were supposed to meet their new guardian, they had traveled to the Preventers branch located in London, where no one would find it odd to see five boys who bore a striking resemblance to a certain elite team of Preventers. So there they sat, in Lady Une's office, trying to act like nervous seven year olds. Quatre and Wufei were both reading; Heero was tapping away on his laptop; Duo sat with a sketchbook on his lap, chewing at the end of his pencil while he contemplated his drawing; and Trowa sat against one of the walls, juggling bean bags, they wouldn't let him use knives, apparently seven year olds shouldn't play with knives. Everything was all planned out, the introductions and afterward. All that was left to do now was wait.

"Lady Une?" the secretary's voice crackled over the intercom, cutting through the silence like a knife.

"Yes?" she hit the button on the intercom, knowing what was coming.

"Mr. Potter is here to see you. Should I send him in?"

"Please do," Lady Une smiled briefly.

The five boys scattered throughout the room shared a look before carefully going back to their facades. _Showtime_.

Harry Potter nodded and smiled charmingly at the secretary as she motioned for him to enter the office. He almost chuckled as he opened the door and his eyes swept automatically around the room. The cool, dignified woman seated behind the desk, Lady Une his brain supplied, watched him carefully, but it was the five boys spread out throughout the room that caught his attention.

Two boys, one blond and the other clearly of Asian descent, sat reading in the chairs in front of the desk, though they're eyes were no longer on the pages in front of them, but on himself. Another boy, his long brown hair braided down his back, lay on his stomach on the floor, with a sketchbook in front of him, what appeared to be a comic half drawn. The fourth boy, with his messy dark brown hair and cold blue eyes, watched him over the screen of a rather battered laptop. It was the last boy, however, watching him with only one piercing green eye visible, who caught and held his gaze.

It took a moment before he could wrench his gaze away from the one that was so clearly related to him to acknowledge the woman behind the desk. He crossed the room with steady, even strides to shake her hand, all the while keenly aware of the five gazes following his every move.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am."

"And you, Mr. Potter," her voice held little emotion and her eyes were judging him, waiting for him to make a misstep, to do something to prove him unworthy of taking care of the boys around him. "Let me make the introductions," she motioned in the direction of the boys. "Next to you are Quatre and Wufei, Heero is the one on the computer, and Duo has the braid." She motioned again and the green eyed boy came around the desk to stand next to her, and she put her hand on his shoulder, "This is Trowa, your brother."

"It's nice to meet you, Trowa," he held out his hand for the boy, as Une was obviously waiting for him to do something. "I'm Harry."

Trowa looked at him carefully, apparently judging him as carefully as Lady Une had. A moment later, a small hand slipped into his.

"Hi."

Harry smiled gently at his brother and shook the small hand. Une seemed to approve, because she nodded and released Trowa's shoulder.

"I'll leave the six of you here for a moment, I have to go retrieve the paperwork," she pushed to her feet. "But first, Mr. Potter, might I have a word with you in private?"

"Oh, of course," the raven haired man nodded.

The two adults moved away from the supposed children. She led him outside the office and closed the door behind them.

"I have to tell you, Mr. Potter, that aside from their short time with the church, they only remember living on the streets. I've talked with them quite a bit over the last few weeks, and they won't be like normal children. They've survived so far on their own, they're not going to immediately attach themselves to you. They are most likely going to be distant and cold, because they are not used to positive adult attention. I hope you realize what you are getting into."

"I understand, Lady Une," he nodded, holding her gaze. "I was raised by my aunt and uncle who weren't overly fond of me, so I pretty much had to fend for myself till I was eleven and started attending a boarding school. I hope to do the best I can by them. I do have the resources and I have quite a few friends and their parents who are more than willing to give help and advice."

She gave him another piercing stare, her eyes continuing to weigh him. She then nodded and took off down the hall.

"Oh, and Mr. Potter," Une called over her shoulder, "feel free to take this time to get to know those boys you'll be adopting."

Harry stood for a moment in indecision. He really did want to go in there and get to know the boys he'd be taking under his wing, but he was so nervous. What if they didn't like him? What if they were like the Dursleys and were terrified of magic?

He took a deep, calming breath. Now was not the time to think about those things. Right now, he had to go back into that room and talk to those boys. Then he was going to take them home with him, and that's all there was to it. With that thought firmly in mind, he grasped the handle and turned.

"Uh, hi," he waved nervously as the door opened to five sets of eyes staring directly at him. "Lady Une just went to get the paperwork. Um, maybe we could get to know each other a bit better before she gets back?"

For a moment, they just looked at him before they all settled into a semicircle. The blond and the Asian boys flipped their chairs around so they were facing the center; the boy with the braid perched himself on the corner of the desk; while the remaining two boys sat cross-legged on the floor in front of it. More than a little unnerved by these five, he cleared his throat and sat down on the floor, closing in the gap and completing the circle.

"Well, I guess I'll start," Harry shifted nervously. "I'm Harry, and I live here in London. I currently don't have a job, but I'm going to school. So what about you guys?"

The boys had expected something of an introduction session. They had planned for this eventuality, and, among other things, they had decided their first names would suffice as long as no one called them by their last names. There was an awkward silence, before Duo finally broke it.

"Hiya!" he was practically bouncing on his perch. "I'm Duo, aaaaand I like my friends, aaaaand ice cream. Oh! And comics!"

With years of undercover experience, it wasn't too difficult to keep up a practiced facade. And it made their new guardian laugh.

"I'm Quatre," the blond smiled and stood up, some habits die hard. "I like to read and I started learning how to play the violin at the church, and I like that a lot."

They had agreed that some of their hobbies could be explained away as something recently learned.

"Wufei, and I like to read and study," the former scholar decided he didn't need to hide any more.

"Heero."

Harry watched the shaggy haired brunet expectantly, waiting for more. However, the other boys knew there would be no more forthcoming, so Trowa continued the thread.

"I'm Trowa," he said quietly. "I like the circus, and lions."

Again, silence permeated the room, this time thankfully broken by Lady Une's return to the room. She glanced around at the little circle, amusement dancing in her eyes as the young raven haired man surged to his feet and began dusting himself off. She obviously made him nervous, which wasn't overly surprising.

"How about it, boys?" she smiled at the former pilots. "Ready to go home with Mr. Potter?"

It had been a test, in a way, to see if the Preventer agents had judged Harry to be a safe enough choice. The five shared a surreptitious glance, communicating silently. Then, ever so slightly, Trowa nodded.

"Well, then, let's go," Harry beamed.

He quickly read through and signed off on the papers Lady Une presented to him, and then he and the boys were escorted out of the building and to his waiting SUV. Once everyone was securely strapped in, he took off for home.

The Boy-Who-Lived-To-Defeat-Voldemort-Again hadn't expected the children to be normal, though it wasn't as if he was the best judge of normal seven-year-old behavior, but he was fairly certain that even ex-street kids didn't take in every aspect of their surroundings as these five seemed to do. He watched them out of the corner of his eye as he moved to let them into the house. Even with Duo's energetic fidgeting, all five of them seemed to be watching his every move, holding themselves much as he did; taut and ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. Checking that his wand was in its holster, easily accessible in the event that these boys weren't children, he let them precede him into the newly renovated house.

While all this was running through Harry's mind, Trowa was busy taking in every aspect of his new-found brother. The older (for now) boy was rather short, a bit shorter than Heero had been before the de-aging; a sign that was worrying as the 'Perfect Soldier' had never grown into his full potential due to the genetic manipulation J had put him through. His frame was wiry and flexible, much like Trowa's, an aspect, he mused, that must have been inherited, just like the vivid green eyes that matched his, even up to the shadows that haunted them; a sign of the horrors he had not only witnessed but also committed. Seeing the pain in his brother's eyes made him wonder what had caused them, increasing his determination to protect the teenage boy, even if he was hampered by his current body's young age.

Quatre, feeling the regret that his lover felt, reached for his hand, giving him a small reassuring smile. They were here now, and though there was nothing they could do about the past, they could make sure they all had a positive future.

"Hermione!" Harry called as he entered the house behind the boys. "I'm back!"

The bushy haired witch had offered to help him with some last minute child/Muggle proofing within the house: putting a shield on the fireplace, charming the pictures to hold still, sending the house elves to stay with friends, and other small things Harry hadn't wanted to do until they were absolutely necessary. Not that any of the Muggle proofing was permanent, by any stretch of the imagination. He would tell the children about magic, in due time, he just didn't want to overwhelm them upon arrival.

"Hey, you're back," Hermione smiled as she walked into the front hallway from the parlor. "I finished the cleaning. Bill is currently in the kitchen making dinner. He said he volunteered to help you, so I let him have at it. So these are your new boys?"

The raven haired wizard nodded, "Boys, this is Hermione. Mione, this is," he paused for a moment as he made sure he remembered their names right, "Duo."

The braided boy bounced on the balls of his feet, waving as he practically shouted, "Hi, Mi'ne!"

"Wufei," Harry smiled as he indicated the next in line.

The raven haired chibi merely bowed his head slightly in acknowledgment.

"Heero."

The former Wing pilot merely grunted as he stared at her.

"Quatre."

The blond gave a small wave and a rather quiet, "Hello."

"And this is Trowa, my brother."

Trowa just nodded, waving in a manner that she interpreted as shy.

"Hi," Hermione smiled brightly at them before turning her attention back to Harry. "Feel free to call me if you need anything. Or Ron, or Luna, or any of us really. You know we're here for you if you need us."

"Yeah, I know," he shook his head slightly. "But honestly, Mione, what could go wrong? It's not as if I'm incapable of taking care of kids. I practically raised myself, I'd like to think I learned something from that experience, if only," he made finger quotes, "'how _not_ to be a good parent/guardian.'"

"Of course, you'll be fine," she rolled her eyes. "Let it never be said that Harry Potter ever asked for anyone's help."

"Shouldn't you be going now?" emerald eyes narrowed into a glare.

"Right," she leaned in and gave him a quick hug. "Seriously, I have faith in you, but don't forget us. Oh, that's right," she snapped her fingers as if just remembering something important. "Don't forget the big unveiling for my project tomorrow. You've been bugging me since it started. It'd be pathetically sad if you missed it now."

"Aye aye Captain," Harry saluted. "I'll be there!" He then began ushering her toward the door, muttering "Girls!" under his breath.

"What was that?" she asked over her shoulder.

"Nothing," he smiled innocently. "You have to go though. See you tomorrow. Bye now." He shut the door behind her and sagged against it with a sigh, "Finally."

"Are you okay?"

Harry almost jumped out of his skin at the blond's innocent question. He had gotten so caught up with Hermione that he had completely forgotten about the kids.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he straightened up, shaking his hair out of his eyes. "You guys want to see your rooms before dinner?"

"Rooms?" Wufei asked curiously.

"Yeah, there's a lot to choose from," Harry answered as he led them up the stairs. "I've had the last two days to plan for this, so I've arranged a variety of rooms for the five of you to pick from. You can each have your own, or you can pair off and share, or I set up one where you can all stay together. It's entirely up to you."

Looking over his shoulder, the raven haired wizard watched in amusement as, without slowing their pace, the boys seemed to be holding a silent conversation through eye contact and small gestures. After a few seconds, Quatre stepped forward, apparently having been chosen as their spokesman.

"If it's not too much trouble," he shifted nervously from foot to foot, "Wufei would like his own room and the rest of us will double up."

"Sure," Harry shrugged. "Like I said, it's up to you. Alright," he paused at a door halfway down the hall, "this would be the single, so Wufei, this will be your room. Don't worry about the decorating, we'll redo it soon enough to your tastes."

The former Shenlong pilot nodded as he took in the room that would be his, but he didn't go inside just yet. He wanted to know where the others' rooms were, so that if he needed them he could find them without trouble.

Across the hall were the other two rooms. Quatre and Trowa took the one directly across from Wufei, while Heero and Duo took the one next to them. Duo rushed into his room and climbed onto the nearest bed, which he began jumping on instantly.

"Damn, they're super soft!" he shouted happily.

"Duo," Wufei hissed. "Perhaps you shouldn't be doing that."

"It's fine," Harry waved off his concern. "Um, there's not much here at the moment, we'll go shopping tomorrow. I think that's it. Will you be okay if I leave you here while I go help with dinner?"

"What's for dinner?" Duo stopped bouncing at the mention of food.

"Not sure," the Boy-Who-Lived shrugged. "But Bill's a really good cook, so I'm sure it'll be good. Anyway, play nice, don't kill each other, and call me if you need something," he slipped out, leaving the door open so the others could migrate back to their own rooms.

As soon as they were sure he was out of ear shot, Heero closed the door and the others took seats around the room.

"So, what do you think?" Quatre asked, taking in the room around him.

"Harry seems nice enough, but it seems like he's living on his own," Wufei scowled slightly in thought. "Where are his parents?"

"He's eighteen," Duo shrugged. "Maybe he moved out."

"Lady Une said he was left a large inheritance," Heero stated matter of factly, "which means his parents are dead."

"What do you think Trowa?" the blond asked, concern for his lover leaking through to his voice.

"He suspects something is wrong," the unibanged boy frowned. "He was watching us on the way here. I don't know what he knows, but he is suspicious. Maybe he's just having a hard time believing that I am his brother. If his... our parents are dead, the time-line could not match up."

"So we work extra hard to be seven-year-old brats," the braided boy laughed. "Your blood matched up with his, so he won't find proof against that. As long as we stay in character, he'll forget his suspicions."

Meanwhile, as Harry made his way to the kitchen, he wondered just _who_ he had brought into his home. The wards around the property prevented anyone with ill intentions toward Harry or his friends to enter, so they weren't an immediate threat. They didn't seem like bad kids either, though their eyes were haunted, like his. Yes, he decided, it would be best for all of them if he just watched them for now.

"So are they settling in?" Bill asked quietly from the stove.

"Yeah," the raven haired wizard smiled absently. "I think so. I left them in their rooms. Anyway, what're we having for dinner?"

"Pizza," the curse breaker shook his head. "It's quick, easy, and pleases everyone."

"I'm sure they'll be happy," Harry chuckled.

"Why don't you call them down, then?" Bill swatted the younger man's ass. "Then I can get properly introduced to the new brood."

"That's if I decide to introduce you," a smirk graced the younger man's face as he sauntered over to the door and popped his head out into the hall. "Dinner!" he hollered up the stairs.

A moment later, the five chibis tumbled into the room and found places around the long wooden table. Bill removed the pizza from the oven as Harry gathered the tableware.

"Boys," he motioned for their attention as he began setting the plates, "this is Bill Weasley. Bill, this is Duo," he began pointing to the boys as they were situated around the table, "Heero, Wufei, Trowa, and Quatre. Bill lives here, when he's in town."

Various greetings were thrown the curse breaker's way, as the boys took in the new addition to the household. However, questions and interrogations, on the pilots part, were put on hold as dinner was served.

Watching the five young boys eat left Harry with even more questions. While they were as alert as ever, only Duo ate with the usual ferocity of children that had been denied food all their lives. Harry sighed inwardly as he recognized the hand curled around the young boy's plate as Duo attempted to eat his slice of pizza as quickly as possible; and rightly he should, since he had acted the same way for years before going to Hogwarts.

On the other hand, across the table Quatre smiled at his friend's behavior but ate with an eye toward being as neat as possible, quite a feat when you are dealing with homemade pizza. Still he managed to keep his face clean and wiped his fingers after each bite on the napkin he kept politely on his lap. To Harry, young Quatre's manners reminded him greatly of the formal dinners he had attended after the end of the war. Perhaps the little blond had been only recently orphaned and prior to had been raised in a wealthy home.

The other three boys fell somewhere in the middle of Duo and Quatre's extremes. They weren't messy but neither were they as fastidious as Quatre. All in all, Harry got the impression that they really didn't care about manners, they just didn't like getting dirty. Wufei occasionally shot Duo looks of mildly disgusted exasperation, of which Harry might have been concerned, if he hadn't recognized the affection lingering behind the Chinese boy's disapproval. Heero, Trowa, and Wufei all seemed to enjoy the meal, but ate mechanically and remained silent as Duo, Quatre, Bill, and Harry carried the conversation.

After twenty minutes of meaningless chatter, Trowa finally spoke up, "Who was the lady that was here earlier?"

She had seemed nice enough, but if they were going to be going to some sort of presentation for her tomorrow, and if she was going to be around frequently, Trowa wanted to know a bit more about her.

"That was Hermione," Harry looked both surprised and pleased as he turned to his new-found brother. "She's been one of my best friends for years now. We met at school when I was eleven. I can't say we were instant friends, but after a couple of months, we were more or less inseparable."

"She your girlfriend?" Duo chirped, a huge grin splitting his face.

Harry blinked a couple of times as he stared at Duo, then both he and Bill burst out laughing.

"Oh, no! No, no, no," he managed to get out. "Hermione is like my sister. Definitely not my girlfriend."

_Like Catherine_, Trowa thought as he nodded, wishing they had gotten a last name, but they should be able to track her down through the school.

"No, Bill is my boyfriend," Harry added, finally containing his laughter.

"Really?" amethyst eyes widened exponentially.

"Yes," the redhead nodded. "That's not going to be a problem with you boys, is it?"

"What? No!" Duo nearly shouted. "That's awesome, cause Hee-chan here is my boyfriend. And Tro and Quat are boyfriends. And we still need to find one for Fei. And it has to be a boy, cause if it was a girl, he'd call her onna all the time, and that's not very nice."

"Aren't you a bit too young to be worrying about boyfriends?" the raven haired wizard frowned.

"Aren't you too old to be asking if I'm too young to have a boyfriend?" the braided boy shot back.

"What school did you go to?" Wufei asked, trying to change the subject.

"Hogwarts," Bill answered. "It's a very exclusive and secluded boarding school in Scotland. Harry and I both attended there, as well as both our parents."

The two wizards shared a look, that would suffice for now. They would tell the boys all about magic and Hogwarts at a later point, but not yet, as they had just arrived.

"What were your parents like?" Quatre asked, sensing how uncomfortable Harry was becoming with the current conversation.

Harry couldn't stop the flicker of pain that flashed across his face at the innocent question.

"I think," Bill interjected, "that that topic would be best suited for another time. Right now, I think it's time for five little boys to head upstairs for baths and bed."

The five boys nodded and obediently made their way upstairs to their respective rooms. Harry started clearing the dishes from the table, his mind miles away. Bill, however, went over and put his arms around his boyfriend's waist.

"It's okay to mourn them, you know?" he placed his chin on Harry's shoulder.

"I know," the raven haired wizard smiled faintly. "I just didn't want to ruin their first day here."

"I know that," Bill smiled. "That's why I cut in. Now, let's forgo the tedious clean up," he pulled his wand and flicked it at the dishes, which immediately began washing themselves, "and go check on those boys before they go to bed."

"Alright," Harry couldn't help the smile that graced his lips at his boyfriend's antics.

Without very much ado, the chibis were bathed, though Duo did insist on splashing water all over the bathroom during his turn, and tucked in for the night. The former pilots didn't talk before they all fell asleep, as they had a very long day, and tomorrow was sure to be just as tiring.

* * *

><p>Ammie: Original chapters written by Stars_Elicpsed, Beth, and Knoteach102 Hope ya'll enjoy the new twists and turns, and my pairing :D Anyway, let me know what you think.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

My Big Baby Brother

By Ammie Hawk

Disclaimer: Shoot me now

AN: Okay, so here's a combination of the sixth and seventh days of Christmas chapter. It took me forever to come up with something to work on, and I finally settled on this. I have combined like 4 chapters of the original and came up with a super long one. Hope ya'll enjoy.

Chapter 2: On the Town

The following morning, Harry stood in the kitchen, mindlessly flipping bacon, when the five seven year olds stumbled in. None of the ex-terrorists had slept well. It was too disconcerting being in a place that they hadn't had the chance to check over themselves, and make as safe and secure as they possibly could. However, they all had it in their minds to do just that later that day. This was their new home now and they had to protect Trowa's brother, no matter that at this point he was bigger than they were.

"Hope you all like a normal English breakfast," the Boy-Who-Lived muttered as he carelessly dropped the food on the table in his half awake state.

"Looks yummy!" Duo yelled, startling their guardian as he went about getting himself a cup of coffee.

The others watched him curiously, wondering how he was able to make food without being properly awake, especially not burning said food. Deciding to contemplate the idiosyncrasies of their new housemate later, the former pilots began filling their plates.

A moment later, coffee in hand, Harry joined them at the table.

"We've got a busy day today," he began, staring into his cup as if it held all the answers in the universe. "We're going shopping once you lot are finished with breakfast. Then I've got to figure out how to get you all tested for entrance into school, and get doctor appointments. And this evening, we've got Hermione's presentation to go to. Is there anything in particular you boys would like while we're out shopping?"

All five stilled as he went through the schedule. Something had to be done about those plans. They couldn't go to an outside doctor. It would totally ruin all the carefully laid plans they'd established with Lady Une. An outside source could figure out their identities and place them and their new guardians in a world of trouble.

However, Duo seemed to pick up on another aspect of the list, "School?" he whimpered.

"Yes," a wry smile pulled at the edges of Harry's mouth, "school."

"No," the braided boy shook his head rapidly back and forth. "Nope, not gonna happen."

"Duo," Heero scowled from the seat next to him.

"Un-un," the former Deathscythe pilot continued. "You can't make me, Heero!"

The wizard watched in silent fascination as the pair seemed to have some form of strange one-sided argument between them. After a minute or so, the braided boy slumped over in defeat.

"Fine," he pouted. "But I'm not gonna make it easy on the teachers! They will feel the wrath of Shinigami!"

Harry rubbed his forehead, just imagining the headache he anticipated Duo giving him. Why had he agreed to take in five seven-year-olds, again? Oh, that's right, one of them was his brother.

"Um, clothes would be most appreciated, Mr. Harry," the blond of the group smiled, seemingly unconcerned by the interaction between the two other boys and bringing the topic back to the matter at hand.

"I would like a kendo sword," Wufei said, looking up from his meal. "Would it be alright if I practiced that?" Here he paused for a moment, mild annoyance flashing across his face, "Is there a team that I could join to… learn?"

"I'll have to look into finding a team," the raven haired wizard frowned slightly, as Bill entered the kitchen, "but I'm sure I can find something. I'm not sure about buying an actual sword at the moment though, we'll look into a padded one, okay?"

The Chinese boy hummed an affirmative as he returned to his plate.

"I need a computer case," stated Heero blankly. "And some external memory would be appreciated."

"Where exactly did a boy from the streets get a computer from?" the redhead asked, helping himself to breakfast. "You didn't steal it did you?"

The former Wing pilot stiffened at the implication, but simply grunted and continued eating.

"You aren't going to keep the computer," the curse breaker continued, now pouring himself some coffee. "A seven year old doesn't need one anyway."

Heero stilled and slowly looked up. Harry shifted slightly in discomfort at the stare that the boy was directing his boyfriend's way. The other four boys glanced back and forth between the oblivious redhead and their fearless leader with wide eyes.

"I'm confiscating the computer," Bill finally looked up, rather unfazed by the glare directed at him. "I'm not even sure what you would use the thing for."

"Playing games," the 'Perfect Soldier' answered coldly, hoping that was a reasonable activity for a child. "And using the internet."

"We don't have internet," the redhead shook his head. "And I'll be expecting the computer after breakfast."

Heero's face hardened even more but he didn't say anything. There wasn't any apparent way he was going to keep his computer. There just wasn't a valid argument a seven year old could make. Harry, upon noticing his look, elbowed his boyfriend.

"Bill, that's enough," he glared slightly at the redhead before turning his gaze to the shaggy haired brunet. "Heero," he said calmly, "you had that computer while at the Preventers, right?"

The Prussian blue gaze shifted to the younger wizard. He nodded ever so slightly.

"I don't believe you stole it, Heero," the Boy-Who-Lived continued. "However, can you tell us where you got it?"

The former Wing pilot remained silent for a moment, then replied, "It was given to me."

It was the only thing he could think of. He couldn't say he found it, Harry would want to know why he didn't give it back to the owner or hadn't turned it into the police so they could return it to the owner, and Heero refused to allow him to think him a thief.

Thankfully, Duo's experience came into play as he piped up, "Somebody gave the computer to one of the guys that was taking care of us, and he gave it to Heero, since he's really good with them."

In a weird sort of way it was the truth. Barton had provided Dr. J with the computer, who in turn had given it to Heero. The machine might be over five years old now and look more than a little beat up, but it was still state of the art, as the Japanese teen upgraded it every time something new became available.

Harry glanced at the braided boy for a moment before looking again at Heero, "At the church?"

He remembered the boys' files had said they had all met a year ago when they had been taken in by a church orphanage. Then the Preventers had found them after it had closed down.

Heero gave a noncommittal "Hn," and let his new guardian draw his own conclusions.

Bill sighed and ran his hand through his hair, damn, he'd screwed up, "I'm sorry, Heero, I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. However, I still want you to bring it down after breakfast. Harry will take a look at it, just to make sure there isn't something on there that shouldn't be. You can keep it and use it for games, but you have to make sure your homework is finished first."

The former Wing pilot blinked in slight shock. Never had an adult apologized to him before, except Odin for the way he had raised him, but that was different. And by the looks on the other former pilots faces', he could tell they were thinking the exact same thing.

"Guys, don't look so shocked," Harry shook his head. "Being an adult doesn't mean you don't make mistakes, nor does it exclude you from needing to make an apology when you do. Now, I will look into getting the internet, but if I do, I will be restricting your access, understood?"

Heero nodded, that was acceptable. Though he'd have to go through his computer and encode anything he didn't want Trowa's brother to see before he brought it down. And as for restricting internet access, there wasn't a program yet that could keep him from going wherever the hell he pleased.

"Alright, you lot go get cleaned up and dressed," Harry stood up and began removing the dishes from the table. "We'll be going shopping as soon as I'm done here."

The boys nodded and filed out of the room to do as they were told. Once both adults were sure they were well out of earshot, Bill waved his wand and the dishes began cleaning themselves. He then turned to Harry.

"I'm sorry, I should've let you handle it," the curse breaker sighed. "I just don't want any trouble from them, and we need to establish the rules right away."

"I know," the raven haired wizard went over and put his arms around his boyfriend. "But we also can't make them feel like we don't trust them. Now, are you going to come shopping with us?"

"As tempting as that offer is," Bill chuckled, "I have work today."

"Alright, I'll see you when you get home," Harry leaned up for a kiss, which was readily given before the redhead apparated out.

About ten minutes later, Harry managed to corral the boys and get them all in the car. Though, it hadn't been without its problems. Wufei had point blank refused to sit next to Duo. Quatre wanted to sit next to Trowa. Heero and Trowa both wanted to have window seats. Harry didn't want Heero next to Duo, as they were exchanging rather ominous subtle looks and signs that could not bode well for anyone involved. It was like trying to put a live puzzle together. Although, Harry was almost certain that normally the kids would've been whining rather than trying to subtly slip out of sight or, in Wufei's case, stating their intentions firmly. Still, they managed to all get situated.

Forty minutes later, they reached their destination, without either Harry or Wufei performing accidental magic and cursing Duo into a pile of mush. That boy NEVER shut up.

Once they were parked, the raven haired wizard noted their parking spot and allowed his mind to drift slightly as they headed toward the high street. The little blond seemed very good at knowing when trouble was about to break out and defusing it, even when his eyes were closed and he was cuddling into Trowa's side. It was almost like magic. And speaking of magic, that was something else that would need to be sorted out in the near future.

Did any of the boys actually have magic? Were there any traces of whatever had caused his brother to… what? Come into being? De-age? Perhaps he could take them to St. Mungo's or Madam Pomfrey for some tests.

Unaware of their guardian's thoughts, the boys had fallen instinctively into formation as they followed Harry out onto the busy street. Duo bounced ahead with Heero lagging only slightly behind him; Trowa and Quatre flanked Harry, keeping an eye out for anything coming from either side; and Wufei brought up the rear, covering their backs. It felt comfortable, and what with suddenly finding themselves out in public for the first time since shrinking, it was something they desperately needed.

"So," Harry spoke up once they hit the shopping plaza, "you guys have any idea what sort of clothes you want?"

Trowa glanced up from his scan of the surroundings to see his brother looking down at him. Looking over at Quatre, he shrugged. As the incident this morning had reminded them, as far as Harry was concerned, they were now seven year old children and seven year olds had very little say in how things were done. Besides, as long as it wasn't hideous, he had no problem with whatever Harry had him wear. Duo and Quatre were the fashion conscious ones, not him.

The blond Arabian shot him a knowing look, which told Trowa the other boy knew exactly what he was thinking. He felt his lips tug upward in a small smile. His Little One never did have any trouble reading him.

"We've got a few ideas," the former Sandrock pilot piped up, bringing the wizard's gaze to the other side. "Do you know where we are going first?"

"Not really," Harry shrugged. "I was going to let you guys pick what you wanted, so long as it's within reason. I don't know the first thing about shopping for children's clothing."

The unibanged boy frowned slightly, something in his brother's tone was pushing his mind down a path he really didn't want it to go. "Don't you remember going shopping when you were younger?"

"All my clothes came from my aunt and uncle," another shrug. "I never actually went shopping with them, too busy."

The look on Quatre's face at that offhanded answer, even if it was only there for a second was enough to make the former Heavyarms pilot's stomach clench. He had just opened his mouth to ask another question, when he noticed that Harry was needlessly glancing back to check on Wufei. The fact that Trowa was almost certain Harry knew exactly where they were made the attempt a bit redundant, but as the other was clearly uncomfortable, he let it go for now. He didn't feel that they knew each other well enough yet to push. Still, it was only the second day, there would be time to ask more 'innocent' questions later.

88

"I have enough sweaters, Quatre," the unibanged boy protested quietly.

"But this one really brings out your eyes!" the blond insisted, holding it up to show how it did exactly that. "You'd look brilliant in it."

Harry couldn't help the snicker that escaped his throat, earning himself a rather annoyed look from his brother. They'd been in a small shop called the Edinburgh Woolen Mill for an hour already, all because Trowa had made the mistake of glancing at a plain colored sweater long enough for Duo to notice.

Rolling his eyes, Wufei went back to his scan of the store, as he'd been doing since they arrived. He wasn't sure what it was, but something was setting every one of his instincts on high alert and he wanted to know exactly what it was.

As his eyes passed over the crowd again, a young black man, about the same age as Harry, had him pausing. Frowning, Wufei slipped away from the group so that he was marginally closer to the man, and watched him go through a pile of sweaters, or at least he pretended to. The man didn't seem all that interested in the sweaters he was perusing but kept glancing over to various points in the store, specifically where the former Shenlong pilot knew his group to be.

He scowled darkly, if he had his old height back it would've been simple enough to see over the various shelves and tables of woolen wear. He could've identified the threat in an instant, warned his companions, and steps would've already been taken to eliminate it. As it was, he had to resort to slipping to the back, climbing up onto a small stepladder, and peering around a pile of winter hats. It was far too undignified for the heir of the Dragon clan, but it allowed him to identify three more possible hostile, all of whom were taking far too much interest in Harry and the others.

Ducking out of sight as a young man with sandy hair looked around, presumably for him, he gritted his teeth and made his way back over to the others. What were the chances of this happening on their very first day with their new guardian? Sometimes, Wufei was sure he believed all that nonsense about curses his grandmother used to go on about.

Meanwhile, Heero too was doing his own scan of the shop, his body tense as he kept half an eye on the braided baka and another half on where Trowa's brother was now paying for their purchases. The former Shenlong pilot slipped up next to him, earning him a quick glance. The look on the Chinese boy's face got his attention, and Heero pulled Duo over to them by his braid, earning a small yelp of protest and the attention of the others.

Harry quickly shrugged it off and turned back to continue paying. Wufei took this opportunity to silently convey his findings over to his friends, all the while keeping an eye out for any sign of the four he'd spotted making any threatening moves.

Instantly Trowa was by his side, his green eyes as hard as the emeralds they resembled, "Where?"

Wufei pointed them out as subtly as he could, noting as he did that two of the four were casually drifting out of the shop, leaving the tall, dark skinned one and the sandy haired one behind. It seemed that they wouldn't be attacking in this store. Perhaps it was too public? Glancing at the others, he saw that they had reached a similar conclusion, though something seemed to be bothering Quatre. He shook it off. He would ask later, for now though they needed to make sure Harry stuck to public areas.

Straightening as the sandy haired one moved closer, Wufei saw Heero watching them from the corner of his eyes, his hand twitching toward where his older self would've kept a gun; Duo slipped out of the stranger's line of sight, shielded by a rack of coats; and Trowa kept his face expressionless, but moved closer to his brother. The longing look in the one visible emerald orb told Wufei that he wasn't the only one wishing that he had a gun or a knife, thought that would be something they'd have to look into acquiring at the first opportunity. Harry was Trowa's brother, and as such a part of their little makeshift family, and no one hurt their family.

88

At Duo's insistence, the next place the group visited was the ice cream parlor. It was crowded, it was busy, and it was loud. Harry began to develop a headache the moment he stepped through the door. Sighing, he looked around at the kids, all eating their ice creams and looking around at the crowd with the, now familiar, hyperawareness they tended to have in public. Somehow, he didn't think the five and six year olds running around screaming were where their focus was pointed and wondered what could have set them off.

Ah.

What were the chances of a quarter of the surviving members of the DA being in the same high street he was shopping at, on the same day? Pretty small. And what were the odds of the kids with really, really good situational awareness missing the attention of a group of young adults who weren't exactly trying to be subtle? Close to non-existent.

Now, how could he defuse this before trouble broke out? Step one, get away from the children. His eyes lit on the arrow sign for the emergency exit, just above a familiar black and white stick man in a box.

"I have to use the toilet," he said quietly to the five boys. "Are you going to be okay waiting here till I get back?"

Trowa looked up at him, a frustrated, almost pleading look in his eyes. Harry held his gaze for a second before standing.

"I won't be long, just stay here at the table."

Slipping through the crowd, he headed off toward the loo. The children would probably follow him as soon as they thought he was far enough away, but if he could get into the toilet before them he could apparate out. And if they did come looking for him, well, the toilet door was around the corner from their table so it wasn't impossible that he didn't actually make it into the bathroom in the first place. He could say he had seen a friend and stopped to chat instead.

Now, how could he get the DA's attention?

88

Trowa felt a wave of helplessness wash over him as he watched his brother move away from the group and in the direction of the toilets. They had come to this horribly noisy place for the simple reason that it was horribly noisy and there were a lot of people around. Whoever the people following them were weren't likely to try anything in here, especially if they hadn't done anything in the quiet, out of the way woolen clothes shop. And then Harry had just walked off. His gaze hardened and he stood up, handing his ice cream to Duo, who had already finished his.

"I'll be back soon," he said quietly. "If Harry gets back first, say I had go use the bathroom too and went looking for him."

Heero met his gaze for a second before nodding.

The former Heavyarms pilot slipped off, disappearing easily into the crowd and heading toward the bathroom. Rounding the corner, he stiffened when he spotted a young man with a missing ear about the same age as their stalkers. He was a redhead, leaning against the wall next to the door while watching the families with a faint hint of condescending amusement on his face. Green eyes narrowed as he tried to decide how to play this. He could go into the toilet on his own, see if the man tried to stop him, or he could waste valuable time getting the others, even though it would provide him with the back-up he needed thanks to his younger body.

Unfortunately, the dark skinned man from the woolen shop heading through the door, followed immediately by the one that had currently held his attention, made his decision for him. Keeping himself flat against the wall and any possible noise to a minimum, he eased the door open and peered around.

An empty corridor met his gaze. There was an open fire escape door at the far end and the doors to the toilets leading off to either side. Slipping into the hallway, Trowa frowned before moving toward the fire escape. Faint voices were coming through the door, and he was eighty percent sure that one of those voices was his brother.

88

"I don't need bodyguards, Dean," Harry hissed, glaring at his old dorm mate. "I am more than capable of taking care of myself, and those under my care. How did you know we'd be here anyway?"

George snorted, "A car is a lot easier to follow than our normal modes of transportation, mate, and 'Mione said you were planning to get everything those brats needed today. We just followed you from the house." Here he paused and sent a slight glare at the raven haired man, "An no, _you_ don't need bodyguards. You've proven time and again you're harder to kill than a bloody cockroach. But you have five kids to look after now. If you were attacked you can't protect yourself and them at the same time."

"And the chances of that are…"

"Pretty high, Harry," Dean interrupted. "And you know that. You wouldn't be signing up with the Aurors otherwise."

Emerald eyes rolled in annoyance as he slumped against the wall, "The war's over Dean. I'm not in as much danger as I used to be."

"Down play your role as much as you like, Harry," George placed an arm around Harry's shoulders, pulling the black haired boy toward him. "We owe you. And helping you keep an eye out for your brother and his Muggle friends pays back a part of that and trying to stop that would be utterly insulting. Besides, it was rather careless of you to leave those brats in there without supervision, someone has to pick up the slack."

"Fine," Harry sighed, ducking out from under George's arm. "Just tone it down a bit, you're making everyone nervous."

Dean and George both nodded. They made to move to the door when Dean accidentally knocked into a pile of crates, sending them spilling across the landing. Harry bent to help stack them again when a soft, musical laugh filled the alley.

"Hello, Luna," Harry smiled, turning to greet the newcomer.

"Hello, Harry," she frowned slightly, seemingly examining something behind him. After a second she blinked and looked back at him, offering a dreamy smile. "I heard you've got some children to look after. I hope you don't mind that I wanted to come see them?"

"No, of course not," the raven haired man sighed. "We're having ice cream at the moment. Would you like to join us?"

"No thank you," she shook her head dreamily. "I'm going to look for a Heilafrump later. I don't want to scare it off with sugary breath."

"Later as in after Hermione's presentation?" Dean grinned. "That reminds me, Harry. What are you going to do with the kids? Or are you taking them with you?"

Harry shrugged, "Hadn't thought much about it."

"Chang would take them," George offered. "She likes you, and I know she's not going tonight. She'd do it if you asked. Plus, her house is safe. Her fiancées parents are _still_ trying to prove to their son that she's actually a witch so they're always turning up for surprise visits." He grinned, "Don't know what they're expecting to find anyway."

"Your brother has a nasty infection of Yerstilta bugs," Luna said suddenly. "It's almost as bad as Lockheart's."

Harry blinked. He was sure she had mentioned those before, and he was pretty sure they were an indication of something pretty important. What had it been again? Then the second part of what she said registered.

"You've been to St. Mungo's?" his voice held a note of worry. "Why were you there? You weren't hurt were you?"

"I went with Neville to visit his parents. They were nice, although it was rather crowded," she gave him a dreamy smile. "Well, I suppose I must be going. See you tonight, Harry."

The trio waited until Luna had left the alley, before George burst out laughing, "Loopy as ever. That's our Luna."

"Yeah," Harry answered. "Anyway, come on, we've been out here long enough. I promised I'd be quick. As for Cho, I'll think about it."

"It's up to you," the redhead straightened up. "Just don't forget to give her some warning if you're dumping five kids on her."

"I won't," Harry answered, pulling open the fire escape door. "She's a good friend."

88

Trowa stealthily made his way out of the corridor as soon as he heard Harry's voice approaching the door, his mind racing to process what he had heard. His brother seemed to be as much a veteran of war as the five former pilots, not to mention his friends. It was a bit odd though, as no one had ever reported a bunch of schoolchildren fighting in the war, other than the pilots, but they had chosen to fight for the colonies. Harry's friends, however, made it sound as though they had no choice but to fight for their lives. Something in him ached at the thought that his little brother might have had the same life as him. Despite the fact that he hadn't even known the boy existed until quite recently, he felt somewhat guilty at not having been there to protect the younger boy.

Then there were the unfamiliar words: Auror, St. Mungos? Was it some form of code? And what did they mean if it wasn't?

And who was this Chang person that they were talking about leaving them with? Could it be one of Wufei's relatives? That Luna girl sounded as though she knew something about the pilots that they didn't, which, while not exactly impossible, was slightly disturbing. And how would she know whether Trowa had Yerstilta bugs, whatever they were, or not? As far as he knew, he'd never met her, although he made sure to memorize her voice, so that he would recognize her if he ever heard her again.

Pushing the information to the back of his mind for later analysis, he signaled to the others that Harry was fine, and that they needed to talk alone as soon as possible.

Harry returned a minute later, the two DA members following closely behind him. He decided it would be easier, and safer, for all involved if the kids knew that George and Dean were not only friends, but that they would also be tagging along. The redhead had laughed when he explained why he needed the kids to know about them, not believing that five seven year olds could be that intimidating. The Boy-Who-Lived scoffed silently, he would learn not to underestimate them, probably at the cost of his pride.

Turning out of the corridor, back to where the kids sat around the table, he stopped short, causing his friends to have to jump back to avoid bumping into him. All five of the boys were sitting around the table, as if they were normal children, the tenseness from earlier apparently drained from their system. Quatre's bowl was pushed away, presumably he had finished with it, and he was talking quietly to Trowa. The auburn haired boy was listening intently, every so often placing a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth. Duo was attempting to sneak bites from Wufei's bowl, though not succeeding thanks to the Chinese boy's vigilance at defending it. Heero, this was the most surreal part to Harry, was licking his bowl clean, granted, slowly and thoroughly, but still licking it. The shaggy haired boy was not the type of person Harry would have thought would ever do something so childish, no matter what his age was. So this act of immaturity, along with the complete _normality_ of the situation, made his blood run cold. The kids were up to something. There was no other way they would calm down so quickly.

Walking slowly now, he whispered over his shoulder to the others, "Careful, they're up to something."

He could hear George's quiet snickering, but didn't bother to stop him. He would just have to learn the hard way.

Duo almost smiled when he saw Harry freeze just outside the corridor. He had managed to persuade the others that it would be best to act like completely normal children, if only to get back at their guardian for walking off on them. He stabbed for Wufei's bowl again, missing it as the black haired boy pulled it out of his reach. He could feel Heero's annoyance at having to act so much like Duo, but that was pushed away by his own amusement of the situation.

Harry approached the table, two strangers behind him, and Duo, along with the others looked up, and Heero put his bowl back down quickly. They could all see Harry's muscles tense, as he readied himself for disaster.

"You guys okay on your own?" the raven haired wizard asked, going for nonchalance but failing miserably.

"Who are they?" the blond asked quietly, holding Trowa's hand tightly under the table. It was too crowded in the ice cream shop for Trowa to tell them what he'd overheard, but the empath could tell that it had bothered his lover.

"These are my friends, George," he gestured to the redhead, "and Dean. They, and possibly others, will be following us around as we shop." Harry gave them both a half-hearted glare, not seeing the children do the same, only more viciously.

"Why?" the former Wing pilot was clearly annoyed at having what appeared to be bodyguards. He was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, even if he was quite a bit younger than he used to be.

"They won't take no for an answer?" their guardian shrugged.

Heero scowled at this non-answer, but didn't press it. He just vowed silently to give Duo as much assistance as he needed in order to prank the boy, Trowa's brother or not.

"Harry! Harry!" Duo suddenly launched himself off his seat and grabbed Harry around the neck. "We're done! 'Cept for Wuffers, but he's a _slowpoke_." He stuck his tongue out at the boy in question, highly enjoying acting his apparent age. "Time for more shopping! Gotta get Kitty-Quat a violin, cause he says he wants one, I need some stuff, and Heero needs," he paused dramatically, his lover scowling at his performance, "a napkin!"

Scowling harder, Heero wiped his hand across his face.

"Alright," the dark haired wizard smiled, setting the braided boy back on the ground. "You all ready to go?"

The former Deathscythe pilot's act had wiped all thought of evil children out of his mind. Wufei pushed his bowl away and stood up, the other three doing the same. Duo was now bouncing around, thinking up immediate ways to pay the two stalkers back.

The next stop was an electronic store, where Heero got his laptop case. Harry then led the boys, with their ever present shadows, George and Dean, to several other stores, getting school supplies, more clothes, and books. Their guardian had just barely been able to hold back his laughter at the variety of reactions the boys had had to that venture. Duo had dug in his heels and nearly had to be carried into the bookstore, while Wufei had lit up and darted ahead of all of them to see what the store had available. The Boy-Who-Lived had finally given in and started snickering when Heero grabbed Duo's braid to keep him from sneaking back out of the store.

Thirty minutes and a hundred pounds later, Harry pushed open the door to their last stop. After this they could head home and he would give Cho a call. He really hoped she would be able to watch the boys tonight, if they didn't want to go with him, since Hermione would hex him something awful if he missed her presentation.

Watching the five boys spread out in the music store, Harry smiled. It seemed he had been forgiven for his thoughtlessness earlier, but there had been a familiar glint in Duo's eyes that said he wasn't going to get off that easily. Harry mentally snorted, he recognized that look from having seen it many, many times on Fred and George's faces. Duo would undoubtedly find that Harry wasn't as easy to prank as he thought he was.

As soon as they entered the music store, Quatre made a beeline for the display of violins on the back wall. It took him less than five seconds to find the one he wanted. It was a beautiful hand-made cherry wood instrument with a matching bow. The only problem he could see was the price. While it would have been less than a drop in the bucket for the CEO of Winner Enterprises, he wasn't sure how much their guardian would be able to afford.

"Is this the one you want?" Harry asked as he came up behind the blond.

The former Sandrock pilot jumped and spun around, eyes wide. He stared up at Harry for a moment, before nodding his agreement. He couldn't remember the last time someone, other than the other pilots, had snuck up on him.

"Yeah," he sighed, "but it's really expensive."

The Savior of the Wizarding world glanced at the price ticket and whistled. Yeah, he would definitely qualify two thousand pounds as expensive. Still, he could afford it, and from the look in those teal eyes, the boy really wanted. Green eyes drifted over to some of the other tickets close by and found, that while it wasn't the most expensive one they had on display, it was on the higher end of the price range.

"Alright," he nodded. "We'll get it.

The empath's eyes grew even wider than before and he actually squealed, "Really?"

His outburst drew the gazes of all their companions just in time for them to see the blond lunge at the taller young man and hug him fiercely.

Harry froze in shock when Quatre jumped up and hugged him. After half a second, he shook it off and returned the warm embrace.

"I'm glad you like it, Quatre," he held the boy close and reveled in the feeling. When the blond finally started to loosen his grip, Harry carefully set him back on his feet. "Let me go check on the others and see if they want anything, then we'll find someone to get your violin. You do understand though that you'll have to be very careful with it."

"Yes sir," the blond assured him, looking back over at the display case. "I'll be careful. It won't even get a scratch."

Harry shook his head slightly and made his way back over to where the others were, "See anything you like?"

Heero and Wufei simply shook their head, while Duo said, "Nah, I'm not much for makin' music. I like listenin', but I ain't never learned to play nothing."

The raven haired wizard nodded his understanding, then looked at Trowa, who was just a little ways away, looking at a display of flutes.

"Would you like a flute?" he asked, going over to his brother.

"No, thank you," Trowa muttered, sparing Harry a sidelong glance.

Harry frowned slightly as the unibanged boy went back to looking at the flutes. Did Trowa not think he would get it for him if he asked? Squatting down so he was level with the child, he gently laid a hand on his arm and turned him to face him.

"Trowa, if you want a flute, I'd be more than happy to get it for you," he assured him. "I want you to be happy, and to have things you're interested in."

The former clown bit his lip as he tried to figure out what to say. Since he had lost his memory, he had gotten many flashes of things from the past, but not all. He vaguely remembered a flute, but he couldn't grasp that memory fully, even though he had a feeling it was a good one.

Hearing a small gasp behind them, they both turned to see that Quatre had found them and was looking at Trowa with tears in his teal eyes.

"Quatre," the unibanged boy whispered as he pulled away from his brother to follow the small blond that had run off toward the back of the store.

Green eyes followed the pair, bewilderment obvious in their depths. He turned and saw the other three looking after the two with sadness and understanding on their little faces.

"What's wrong?" he asked curiously. "Did I say something?"

All of them looked uncomfortable for a moment, but the braided boy finally spoke up, "A while back, Trowa got hurt and lost his memory. It took him a long time to remember us at all, but he's never remembered everything from before. Quatre feels that it was his fault, since he was the reason Trowa got hurt."

Harry nodded absently as he stared off in the direction that Trowa and Quatre had disappeared. Luna had mentioned Yerstilta bugs, and she had said they were nearly as bad as Lockhart's. Gilderoy Lockhart, who had spent the last six years in St. Mungo's due to a backfired obliviate spell, and didn't even know his own name afterward. It made sense now, Trowa had been hurt and never recovered from it, and still didn't remember a lot. The Muggles would have done everything they could, but their knowledge of mind healing wasn't as extensive as that of Wizards. And what if there were still physical side effects lingering from whatever had happened?

Original chapters by Arsrevera, and Dream of Stories, Beth, and Knoteach102.

* * *

><p>Ammie: Seriously, I hate shopping chapters... but as it was in the original I kept it. A lot of it is the same as what was originally written, I just modified it a bit to make it flow better. Okay, I'm gonna go die now...~dies~<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

My Big Baby Brother

By Ammie Hawk

Author's Note: Okay, I know I haven't written on practically anything for a year now, but it's time once again for my 12 days of Christmas. I'm trying my best to get out the allotted chapters, but life gave me a Christmas present this year and I now have 2 jobs, so it's going to be slow. However, here's the first installment of my Christmas presents to all of you. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 3: Mind Healers and Information

As soon as they arrived home from shopping, Harry sent the boys, who were starting to lag from their trip, upstairs for naps. This pronouncement had been met with rather loud objections, mostly from the hyperactive Duo, but in the end he had gotten his way and the five boys were now safely enclosed in their respective bedrooms. In the meantime, the Boy-Who-Lived was going to take this opportunity to make a few calls.

He made his way to the living room and quickly located his jar of floo powder. He grabbed a pinch and after lighting a small fire with his wand, tossed it into the flames.

"Madam Pomfrey, Hospital Wing, Hogwarts," he said just before he inserted his head into the green flames.

Within moments, he was looking around the office of the school nurse, but he didn't see the aforementioned nurse anywhere in sight.

"Madam Pomfrey?" he called out, hoping she was nearby.

"Who's there?" the nurse's confused voice floated in from the outer ward, and Harry belatedly thought that it was possible she could be with an injured student.

"It's Harry Potter," he called back, and really hoped she wasn't busy.

"Oh," she said as she entered the office. "And what have you done this time?"

"Eh, heh," he chuckled nervously, "well you see, ma'am, it's not me actually. I have someone at my house that I'd like you to take a look at, if you're not busy that is."

"What seems to be the problem?" she asked, her manner now turning professional.

"Well," he licked his lips, "I recently found out I have a brother. But that's not the issue. Apparently he was in an accident awhile back and lost his memory. He got it back, mostly, according to his friends, but there's still bits and pieces missing, and I was wondering, hoping really, that you might be able to help him."

"I'm not sure how much help I will be exactly," Madam Pomfrey sighed. "I'm not a Mind Healer, Potter. But I can drop by for a few minutes and take a look."

"Anything you can do would be helpful," Harry grinned. "I just kinda don't want to take him to St. Mungo's if I don't have to. The press would have a field day if something like this got out."

"I understand," she nodded. "Now stand aside. I'll come through now, if that's alright? I currently don't have any patients, but with the accident rate at this school that could change at any moment."

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," he nodded and then withdrew his head from the fire.

A moment later the healer came through the fire and began dusting herself off. Harry stepped forward to welcome her into his home.

888

Meanwhile, upstairs, the boys, who were supposed to be napping, all snuck out of their own rooms and congregated in Heero and Duo's room. As soon as they were all seated in various spots, four sets of eyes turned to the unibanged pilot, waiting for his report from earlier.

Trowa let out a sigh before beginning, "From what I was able to gather, it seems my brother may be more like us than we thought."

"Whatcha mean, Tro?" the braided boy asked from his position belly flopped on his and Heero's shared bed.

The former Heavyarms pilot's hands clenched in his lap as he thought back to the conversation he'd overheard earlier. He then recited word for word what he had heard. It took about five minutes to cover everything, despite the fact that what he'd actually heard being less than two minutes worth of speaking as he included his thoughts on who the various people mentioned were. By the time he had finished, the other boys all had various expressions on their faces, ranging from Quatre's sad look that other children had gone through what they had, to Heero's slight frown as he mentally sorted through the new information that had just been given them.

"Are we assuming then that Harry and his friends fought as part of Mariemaya's army?" Wufei finally asked, breaking the silence and turning puzzled eyes to the others. "Because as far as I am aware they had no earth based soldiers—everyone was trained and supplied with weapons on the colonies themselves. That means that logically, they wouldn't have been able to fight on that side. However, they could've fought on the side of the Earth Sphere during that conflict."

Trowa nodded thoughtfully, "True, but Harry would've only been twelve during the Eve Wars and as far as we know there weren't any rebels younger than us."

"All we can conclude," the blond leaned against his lover's side, "is that he hasn't had an easy life up to this point. For all we know it could be nothing more than a school thing."

"Hn," Heero pulled out his laptop and started searching for information. What did it really matter to him if this house didn't have internet access, he'd hack into the Preventers network if he had to.

"Kitty Quat's right," Duo chimed in, propping his chin on his hands, "there's lots of things that can make someone warped. Just cause he acts like us doesn't mean he was a soldier boy. Hey, hey, hey, maybe… maybe he's a gang boss! I mean, he's got scars and stuff. Anyone else notice the back of his right hand? Looked like someone got a dull knife and started carving into it. I couldn't read it though, seems like he don't want it seen, least not by us runts."

"I noticed it as well," the Chinese boy nodded. "The first part looked like it said, 'I will not', but I couldn't make out the rest. I believe you may be right about him keeping it from us. Though they didn't look fresh, they were at least a couple years old."

The other four pilots cringed minutely at the idea of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old undergoing that kind of torture. They had gone through worse during the wars, of course, but that had been so that no one else would have to. The idea that Trowa's little brother had been hurt that way did not sit well with them.

A small sound of surprise jerked all of their attention to Heero, who was staring at his computer screen with wide eyes. Knowing their fellow pilot was not easy to shock, the others all quickly gathered around him and the machine.

"What's up, Hee-chan?" Duo demanded, trying to look over the Wing pilot's shoulder. "What'd ya find?"

Heero pushed the computer back slightly, so everyone could see. Within a few minutes, all of them were staring at the screen in shock. This was NOT what they had been expecting.

"Well," Quatre cleared his throat, "that answers one question."

The article on the screen told of the death of cult leader Tom Marvolo Riddle, who had "terrorized" Great Britain off and on for twenty years and had been responsible for more than a thousand deaths. According to the article, Riddle and his cult the "Death Eaters" had been stalking, attacking, and taunting a young man for four years prior to his death. The young man, who wished to remain nameless, ended up killing him in self-defense late last May. And there in the middle of the screen, receiving an award for services rendered to the nation and trying to avoid the camera, was a very uncomfortable looking Harry Potter.

"Whoa," amethyst eyes widened as he leaned over Heero's shoulder for a better look. "Tro, your little bro _is_ a lot like us!"

"Quatre's right, it does answer one question," Wufei scowled. "But it brings forth so many more. Why haven't we heard about this before? And why were the Preventers not called in to deal with the situation?"

"What else is my brother hiding?" emerald eyes hardened slightly, as he looked around at the others, as if they could answer his questions.

"So it appears that Harry and his friends were fighting against this Riddle character and his Death Eaters," the former Sandrock pilot shook his head. "And that explains so much. But it's not something we can help, it's over now, all we can do is help him feel at ease with us."

"Hn," the shaggy haired brunet nodded slowly. "We know the Preventers were not called in, it sounds like was happening before the Eve Wars even started, and from Harry's evasions and half explanations we can assume that he knows far more than he has said. Also, if this cult specifically targeted children it would make sense for them to be taught how to defend themselves."

The unibanged boy relaxed slightly as he realized that maybe, just maybe, his brother hadn't fought against him in the war. If he hadn't then, should he eventually learn of their pasts, at least there wouldn't be the worry of past grudges from actual events during the war, hopefully. There was still the possibility that Harry had connections to someone that was hurt due to a Gundam attack or in a search for the pilots but he'd known about that risk before. Those things were a lot easier to accept than the possibility that he might have been in a battle against his brother. If he had been in one of the suits OZ had sent after them in the first half of the Eve Wars then he could've killed Harry and never known it. His little brother could have died by his hand….

Trowa didn't realize that he had tensed again until he felt his blond lover wrap his slightly smaller arms around him and his body relaxed into his boyfriend's hold. Letting out a soft breath, he pushed the thoughts of what could have been away and tried to relax, focusing on his feelings for the small blond instead. Quatre beamed up at him as he felt Trowa's love and gave the other boy a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Ya know, there is one bright spot among all this gloom and doom," Duo grinned.

"Oh?" the others looked at him confused.

"Yep," the braided head bobbed up and down eagerly. "If this Riddle asshole really was stalkin' him, he's more than likely ta have some high tech security shit, right? Maybe not as high tech as our shit but still better than the run o' the mill, everyday shit piles ya see everywhere else."

Heero's brow creased in thought, but he could see the merit in what his lover was saying. He was about to open his mouth to agree but stopped as they all heard muffled steps coming up the stairs. Thinking quickly, Heero snapped the laptop shut and stuffed it under the bed, while the others all piled on the bed and proceeded to feign sleep, since they were supposed to be taking a nap.

They strained to hear a door open in the hallway, and Harry's surprisingly muffled voice. Then a moment later, the door opened and soft chuckles filled their ears. They heard their new guardian stealthily cross the room and come to a stop next to the bed.

"Trowa," he called quietly, they assumed he was trying not to disturb the rest of them. "Trowa."

The one visible green eye opened and locked with the other matching set above it.

"I need you to come with me, Trowa," the raven haired teen whispered. "Try not to disturb the others, okay?"

The former Heavyarms pilot nodded, and Harry took his leave as he disentangled himself from the others.

"Psst, Tro-wa," one amethyst eyes peeked open, "try and keep him busy. We'll use this time to have looksie around."

The unibanged boy nodded and then slipped quietly from the room. The other four quickly followed his lead and got off the bed.

"Trowa won't be able to keep Harry occupied forever," Wufei stretched as best he could. "I'll check kitchen area and the back garden."

"Hee-chan and I'll take a poke upstairs," Duo beamed, grabbing his boyfriend's hand.

"Duo will take upstairs," a cobalt glare was leveled on the braided boy. "I'll take the ground floor and the front of the house. Quatre, take this floor and check all the rooms."

The blond nodded, "We shouldn't worry about setting things up tonight. We'll make a list of what we need to do when we regroup."

With that they split up to finally check out the place they had now found themselves in.

88

Trowa followed Harry down the stairs and into the front room. He was about to ask what was going on when he noticed someone else in the room. It was a woman, in her fifties or sixties if he had to guess, and dressed in a rather old fashioned nurse's outfit. She looked nice enough, and the raven haired teen seemed relaxed in her company, but Trowa was surprised, and more than a little wary. They hadn't heard a door bell or car pull up from upstairs, so when had she arrived? How long had a stranger been inside the house with them, and why had none of them noticed?

"Trowa?" his brother called his attention away from the newcomer and his racing thoughts. "This is my old school nurse, Madam Pomfrey. I asked her to come here and take a look at you. She just needs to ask you a few questions."

The former Heavyarms pilot nodded slowly, but made no move toward the nurse, noting that Harry hadn't asked if he wanted to be examined by a stranger, even if his brother knew her quite well. The older, for now, teen was watching him closely and Trowa turned a carefully blank stare on him. However, Harry seemed to read the look quite well though and just motioned him forward.

"It won't take long," the Boy-Who-Lived shook his head, "and maybe she'll be able to tell us someone who can help you get the rest of your memories back."

The unibanged boy hesitated a moment before finally moving. He had to remember that he was a child now and if his brother, who was now his guardian, wanted him to be looked at by a medical professional then he couldn't say no, well not without good reason anyway. And besides, he was just a little bit curious as to how Harry had gotten to know the school nurse well enough for her to make a house call for a student that had already gradutated.

"You looked after my brother?" he asked quietly, leveling his one visible eye on the nurse.

"To tell you the truth," she beamed at him, motioning him towards one of the living room chairs, "he was one of my more frequent patients. The stories I could tell you about the mishaps Mr. Potter and his two friends got into. They were worse than when your father was in school."

Trowa saw Harry wince slightly out of the corner of his eye and carefully hid his amusement as he sat down; putting the fact that Madam Pomfrey had apparently looked after their father aside for later examination. Information on his brother was more important to him right now.

"What sort of trouble did they get into?" his brow rose curiously.

"I'm not sure Madam Pomfrey's stories about me are something she should be telling you about, Trowa," the raven haired wizard cut in. "Though I'm sure she knows some good ones about Mum and Dad, right Madam Pomfrey?"

"Oh yes," Madam Pomfrey chuckled at the brothers' antics. "The stunts your father would pull. But we can talk about that later. Trowa was it?" the boy nodded. "Well, Trowa, Harry told me you remember some things from before your accident. Can you tell me if you remembered them gradually or all in one go?"

"All at once," he didn't feel like explaining that that had only been because of his piloting the Zero system.

The nurse nodded, making notes on a clipboard Trowa hadn't seen before, "And have you remembered anything since that point?"

Trowa shook his head, now thinking of a plausible cover story on what had caused him to lose his memories if she asked. It probably wasn't the best idea to say his mobile suit was blown up in outer space by his boyfriend.

"I see," she frowned slightly. "Well, I can do a few tests now, but I think I should leave you with the name of a Mind Healer."

"That would be fine," Harry nodded. "Just as long as they can keep their mouths shut."

"Of course," she rolled her eyes and stood up.

She pulled something long and thin from her bag and moved behind Trowa before aforementioned pilot could get a good look at it. The former terrorist tensed instinctively, he did not like some strange person going behind him especially when they had strange instruments. He made to turn around so he could keep an eye on her, but suddenly Harry was crouched in front of him, holding his hands.

"Just stay still," he smiled kindly. "It'll all be over in a few seconds and then you can go."

Trowa stayed still, his eyes fixed on his brother's. Harry's eyes were as green as his own, but where his were unreadable, Harry's were open books. The unibanged boy could see the concern and warmth in them, and also the need to reassure him that everything was going to be okay. To Trowa it seemed like no time had passed at all before Madam Pomfrey was stepping away from him and saying that she had everything she needed and the moment between the brothers was broken.

"All done, dear," she moved over to her bag and began putting her things away. "Mr. Potter, I will be in touch later, I need to have a look at these first. Then I can get you in touch with the best person for the job required.

"Oh?" the former Gryffindor noticed Trowa stiffen slightly. "Anything we should be worried about?"

"No," she smiled reassuringly. "It's just standard procedure."

She stood up and the pair escorted her into the hallway. Trowa watched carefully as Harry let her out the front door and then fiddled with the portal for a few seconds. When the teen had finished, he turned and smiled down at the chibified boy.

"So, should we see if the others are up yet, or do you want to help me pick out something for dinner?"

"I'll help with dinner," Trowa answered quietly, spotting Heero lurking in the shadows. "Do you think we have to go to this presentation tonight?"

"No," Harry shook his head. "I was actually planning on calling one of my friends in to act as babysitter. You don't have to come if you don't want to, in fact it'll probably be really boring to the five of you."

The brothers made their way down to the kitchen, where Harry began searching through the pantry. As Trowa waited, he looked around the kitchen once again. It still puzzled him a bit why someone Harry's age would need a house this size. True, he had a boyfriend, but it was still really big. In fact this room alone looked like it could fit ten to twenty people without being overcrowded. He posed this question, in simpler terms, and his brother looked up and smiled.

"Oh, that, well," the wizard stumbled a bit, as if trying to find the right way to say this, "you see, I have a lot of friends and familyish people that visit. I mean, Bill's family is huge, he has five brothers and a sister and they visit regularly. And until I was seventeen, a lot of people lived here on a semi-regular basis. It does seem a bit big for me, but it was left to me by my godfather, so I just kinda took it over."

"So you grew up here?" Trowa asked curiously, that would make sense. If their parents had died awhile back, he would naturally go to his godfather.

"No," Harry's face went blank. There was a moment's pause and then he continued, in a less agitated tone, "My relatives wouldn't have liked it here, too abnormal for them."

The former pilot felt a twinge of sorrow at his words. Despite his apparent nonchalance, Harry had said those words with an undercoat of venom. Had his life been that bad? Of course, they didn't really know anything about their new guardian's past, except little things, and what they had just found out upstairs.

"Anyway, that's all in the past," the Boy-Who-Lived shook his head. "What do you want to eat? Any favorites?"

Staring at his brother, the unibanged boy shrugged. He really didn't have any preferences, save that the food was edible. And even if it wasn't, he could still eat it if he had to, as could the others. Even after the war, he and Heero probably would've lived off microwave dinners had the other pilots not taken it upon themselves to make sure that they didn't.

"Well," Harry just smiled, "we'll just have to fix that. Does macaroni and cheese sound good?"

Trowa nodded, it sounded fine to him. The raven haired teen finally came out of the pantry with several small boxes in his hands.

"Could you grab a saucepan for me?" Harry motioned with his elbow to the cupboard next to the stove, and when Trowa had retrieved it he nodded toward the sink. "And now fill it about halfway with water."

The former Heavyarms pilot did so, getting the pan on the stove before stepping back and watching Harry start the stove. The wizard then began pulling ingredients for a salad out of the fridge. Trowa just watched, even if it was a bit unusual for an eighteen-year-old boy to be so familiar with the kitchen, it was nice seeing his brother acting normal.

Harry smiled as Trowa stayed with him as he started dinner, instead of running back upstairs to be with his friends. It was still a bit early for dinner, but since they had missed lunch while they were shopping, he knew the boys needed to eat something more substantial than the ice cream they had earlier. He figured they could have something else before they went to bed with whoever he got to watch them for the evening. Speaking of which, he still needed to call Cho.

The younger, for now, brother was enjoying the companionable silence of the kitchen when he saw Harry suddenly stiffen and look toward the stairs. He was about to ask what was wrong when the raven haired teen burst out, "Bloody Hell!" and dashed out of the room and headed for the stairs.

88

After the boys had split up, Duo headed upstairs to snoop around. It didn't take him long to investigate the third floor, so he decided to check out the attic. After about twenty minutes of poking around the fully finished attic, he still hadn't found much but a lot of old junk and dust. There were several old fashioned trunks full of weird old clothes, but they held little interest for the former street rat. Just as he was about to head back downstairs, though, he spotted a door in the back corner, half hidden behind a sheet draped chair. He made his way over and tried the doorknob, which was locked.

"Weeelll," the braided boy chuckled to himself as he grabbed the aforementioned braid and deftly pulled a lock pick out of it, "what is Harry boy hiding in here? I think I'll just have looksie."

It was frustrating to all the boys that they knew so little about their new guardian. If he was keeping this door locked, maybe there would be some answers in there. Secrets were usually kept behind locked doors and Duo was determined to find out what they were.

After a couple minutes of trying, the self proclaimed Shinigami was getting frustrated and highly confused. This was the first lock he had not been able to open in less than a minute in over five years! He was sure the tumblers were aligned, yet it still remained firmly shut. What in the name of all things gundanium was going on here?

Stepping back, he scowled at the door. He tried his pick one more time, but when that didn't work he hauled off and punched the door as hard as he could just above the stubborn lock, muttering in frustration, "Open up you goddamned thing!" To his immense surprise, he heard a soft snap, not the sound of a lock, but it definitely came from the closed portal. He quickly looked over the door, there was no way he could've possibly damaged it in his current body, it was made of solid wood after all. Maybe it had just been jammed or something. Whatever the case, he shrugged off his confusion and eagerly began opening the door.

88

Harry took the stairs two at a time, trying to figure out what could have possibly triggered the wards. This particular ward was on a compartment in the attic that stored the remains of the Black family's extensive Dark Artifacts collection. He and Bill had tried to remove them from the house entirely, but due to curses laid on them by one of the Black ancestors, every time they tried to remove them, they would reappear back in the house. Finally after half a dozen tries, Harry decided to create a small room in the attic to store them until Bill had a chance to figure out what was actually on them, and then they both placed as many wards as they could think of around them to keep anyone from getting into them and getting hurt. They made it so the only one who could open the door and not get hurt was Harry himself, since it was unlikely he'd be controlled by an outside force.

And now, the wards were telling him that someone was trying to get in. But who could it be? None of the outside wards had gone off, and the only ones in the house were himself and the boys, and Muggles shouldn't be able to even see the door, let alone get it open. Had someone possibly snuck in while they'd been out? No, the wards would've notified him of anyone entering or exiting the property. That left only the boys, and that meant that at least one of them had magic and had stumbled across it. They must have just gotten curious. With that thought in mind, he increased his speed even more. When he finally reached the attic, he saw Duo with his hand on the door to the warded room, about to pull it open.

"DUO, STOP!" Harry yelled at the top of his lungs as he lunged at the brunet, pushing him away from the door just as it opened and activated the anti-theft wards.

Original chapters written by Neph, Knoteach 102, and Dream of Stories

* * *

><p>Ammie: Okay, I hope you like it, I'm considering this my 1st and 2nd day of Christmas presents to all of you. I SHOULD have another chapter up before I go to bed tonight, I have it finished just need to do a final edit and then post. Hopefully I will do better in the coming days, but as stated earlier, I just started 2 new jobs so my time is rather limited. Hopefully this will get me over the year long writer's block I've had. Anyway, let me know what you think.<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

My Big Baby Brother

By Ammie Hawk

Author's Note: Okay, so here is my 3rd Day of Christmas chapter. I know it's for the same story I did the first 2 days for. I only did it that way because I decided to break up the previous chapter into 2 because it was getting rather long. Anyway, I hope to be over my slump soon and will possibly get out more chapters for this time period. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 4: Letting the Cat Out of the Bag

Trowa, who had followed his brother from the kitchen, watched in shock as he shoved Duo away from the door, shielding the apparently younger boy with his own body from the strange bolts of red light that flew out of the doorway. Seeing the attack wasn't stopping, the unibanged boy found something he could use to close the portal. Quickly and carefully, the former clown deftly avoided the red beams of light and moved behind the door, using the old cane he'd found to push it closed, stopping the attack instantaneously.

The sudden silence in the attic was broken only by the sound of the boys' heavy breathing. After a minute or so, Trowa noticed Duo squirming around in Harry's arms, trying to move out from underneath the older teen's body.

"Harry?" Duo asked, trying to turn around to look at the one who had saved him. "He's alive, Trowa. I can feel him breathing, but why isn't he waking up? Harry, you okay buddy?"

Somewhat reassured, the former Heavyarms pilot moved closer to see how he could help.

"Harry?"

When there was still no reply, Trowa grabbed his brother's shoulder and pulled as hard as he could, trying to pull him off of the smaller boy still trapped partially beneath him. Thankfully, Duo's torso was free, so he had no trouble breathing, even if his legs were pinned.

"What happened?" Heero demanded as he rushed into the attic with Quatre and Wufei, all of them having been alerted to the trouble by Harry's yell.

The braided boy looked up from his place on the floor and quickly explained the situation as Heero joined Trowa in trying to free their pinned teammate. The pair of them managed to move the raven haired teen enough to get Duo free, but it took all five of them to turn him fully over onto his back.

After ten minutes of trying to wake their new guardian, all five boys were at a loss as to what to do. They couldn't get him down the stairs in their current bodies. Trowa didn't know the number for the nurse Harry had called, and they didn't want to call emergency services, since it looked like Harry had just been knocked out, not seriously injured. They finally decided to give him five more minutes to wake up before they called in Lady Une and asked for her assistance.

As they continued to wait, Trowa remembered the dinner they had put on, and rushed down to save it from burning down the kitchen. He had just returned when they heard a small moan coming from the body lying on the attic floor.

"_I hate getting hit by stupefy,"_ was the first thing that crossed Harry's mind as he regained consciousness and sat up. He then noticed where he was, and who was with him. All five of his young charges were sitting in a line, watching him in varying degrees of curiosity, concern, wariness, and confusion. It seemed like now was the best time to tell them about magic, no point in putting it off any longer, they'd just have to cope with it however they could.

"Listen, boys, I know you have a lot of questions," he slowly pushed himself to his feet. "But let's take this downstairs, where we can be a bit more comfortable."

He watched with no small amount of interest as Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei all turned to Heero for approval. Cobalt eyes just stared at Harry for a moment, analyzing hi, before he gave a nod of approval. Harry smiled and took a tentative step toward the door, swaying slightly from the after effects of the multiple spells he'd been hit with. He was pleasantly surprised when both Duo and Trowa stepped over to his side to try and steady him. They wouldn't be able to do much if he did start to fall, but the sentiment was nice.

After they had carefully moved down the stairs and found comfortable seats in the sitting room, Harry once again found himself the focus of five sets of intense stares. He fidgeted for a few minutes under their scrutiny, all the while trying to figure out a way to start this without sounding like a complete lunatic to his charges.

"I know this is going to sound crazy to you," he finally managed, gathering up all his Gryffindor courage, "but magic is real. Now before you say anything," he held up his hand as Wufei scoffed, "you just witnessed a rather high level defensive spell. Duo here managed to accidentally set off some anti-theft wards I have on some pretty dangerous magical artifacts in the attic. You are alright, Duo, aren't you?" he started to stand when he realized he hadn't checked on the braided boy. "I didn't hurt you when I pushed you, did I?"

"I'm fine," the former Deathscythe pilot quickly reassured his guardian, he really wanted to hear more.

"Are you sure?"

"Sure thing," Duo nodded vigorously. "What about you? You went down hard and were Sleeping Beautying it for over ten minutes."

"I'm alright," Harry sat back down and waved off his concern. "It was just a stunning spell, it doesn't do any damage, it just knocks people out for awhile."

"You seriously expect us to believe that was magic?" Wufei demanded, scowling at the teen and then looking to his fellow pilots for support.

"Yeah, I do," the Boy-Who-Lived sighed and pulled out his wand, which he always carried in a holster on his left forearm. He then held it up for all of them to see, "This is my wand, and with it I can do a wide range of spells. Watch."

Flicking his wand at the lamp sitting on the table beside the sofa, he levitated it and directed it around the room. He then set it down on the floor in front of his chair. He quickly transfigured it into a small dog, which he let run around and sniff at each of their feet; then a sofa cushion, that he tossed up into the air a couple of times; and finally back into the lamp and sent it back to the table where it had originally been.

"Sooooo," wide amethyst eyes turned to him in amazement, "you're a witch?"

"No, no, Duo," Harry was unable to stop from bursting out laughing at Duo's question, which had the small L2 pilot pouting, "only girls are witches. I'm a wizard. And apparently so are you."

"Really?" the braided boy beamed. "How'd ya figure?"

"Well," the older boy scratched the back of his neck nervously, "only someone with magical abilities could've seen that door, much less opened it."

"Awesome!" the self proclaimed God of Death punched his fist in the air. "Can you teach me?"

"I don't know, Duo," Harry shook his head. "Wizards and witches usually start learning at age eleven, or at least that's when they start going to school. You're only seven."

"No fair!" Duo deflated, sticking his lower lip out in a pout.

"Since Duo is magical," Heero spoke up, a calculating frown on his face, "could all of us be?"

"That would be sooooo cool!" the braided boy perked back up, then turned expectantly back to their new guardian, "Why didn't you tell us all this before?"

"Well, I didn't want to overwhelm you guys," the raven haired teen sighed. "You just got here. I was going to tell you, eventually. I just wanted you to settle in first."

"And you were uncertain of our reaction," the little blond spoke up, his hand hovering over his heart.

"It's not that, exactly," Harry bowed his head. "I've just had some bad reactions from Muggles, that's people who don't have magic. I really just wanted you boys to be comfortable here."

"If it is a part of you," Trowa reached over and took hold of his little lover's hand, "then who are we to judge. We all have our pasts and our own unique talents, yours is no different than Quatre's." Here he leveled a glare at Wufei, "We can all accept this."

The Chinese teen turned away, but didn't say anything refuting the Heavyarms pilot's words. The other three just nodded in agreement, it made sense to them.

"Damn it!" the raven haired teen shot to his feet. "I completely forgot about dinner. The kitchen's probably a wreck. Come along, you lot, let's find out if we can scrounge something up to eat."

The six of them trooped off down the stairs to the kitchen. Harry set them all up with a simple task while he did the main cooking. Before too long, dinner was ready. The former Gryffindor had done a bit of showing off where he could, using the tiniest bits of magic here and there for their entertainment.

As they were sitting down around the table, Harry caught sight of the clock. If he didn't get a move on soon he'd not only be late for Hermione's presentation, but he'd have to drag the boys along as well, and they'd already asked if they could remain behind.

"Listen, boys, can you stay out of trouble while I make some calls?" his eyes turned specifically to Duo.

The other four shared amused glances as the braided boy pouted at the insinuation. With another stern glance, this time at each of them, Harry left the room.

He made his way over to the phone in the parlor. It was one of the few Muggle things he'd added to Grimmauld Place thus far, but he knew it would be practical to have one, as some of his friends had decided to live primarily in the Muggle world. He picked up the receiver and ran his fingers down a list of numbers before finally dialing the one he needed. It started ringing… once… twice… thrice…

~Hello, this is Cho,~ a friendly female voice filled his ear.

"Hey, Cho, this is Harry," he chuckled nervously, he'd never been comfortable talking with the former Ravenclaw.

~Oh, Harry, hello!~ she greeted him properly. ~It's been awhile. To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?~

"Well," he scratched his neck sheepishly, "I actually have a favor to ask of you."

~Oh?~ she prompted.

"Well, you see," he bit his lip, "Irecentlyadoptedfiveseven-year-oldsandIneedsomeonetowatchth emtonight."

~Harry,~ his ex said patiently, ~you're going to have to slow down. I didn't catch a word of that.~

He took at deep breath to calm himself, "I recently adopted five seven-year-olds and I need someone to watch them tonight, since I have to go to Hermione's presentation."

~I'm sorry, Harry,~ she apologized and he was vaguely reminded of fourth year. ~You know I would love to watch them for you, but I can't. My fiancé and I are just about to head out to his parents' house, I would call and cancel, but you know…~

"Yeah, no, it's okay," he shook his head, not that she could see it. "I should've asked sooner. I'll find someone else, don't worry. You have fun."

~Alright, bye Harry,~ she said before the line went dead.

Harry sighed in defeat. If only he'd called her sooner. Now, who to call? Luna was going to the presentation, as were all the Weasleys, and the remaining DA members, they'd told him that earlier, who did that leave? He could always call Remus, no, he was going too. Andromeda, no, she'd be watching Teddy and he didn't want to burden her with five more kids.

His eyes raked the list, hoping for an answer. He scowled as he reached the bottom of the list, where a small number was printed with the words 'Emergency only' written next to it. He quickly shook his head, no, he wouldn't do that to his brother. He would not make him suffer through an evening with one of the Malfoys. He'd only go that route after all others were exhausted, including the Dursleys, which he wasn't going to even consider.

He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. Maybe he could get Madam Pomfrey to do it. Well, it was worth a shot, she wasn't going to the presentation, he knew that much. And if she was busy, she could possibly get one of the other teachers to do it.

He sighed and made his way over to the fireplace, once again activating the floo. He stuck his head through and looked around the office of the school nurse. She was seated at her desk and looked up when she heard the fire call connect.

"My, my, Mr. Potter, this is an unexpected surprise," she chuckled. Twice in one day. You didn't even do that while in school. I would think you would never want to see me or my Wing ever again, now that you are out."

"Ha ha, Madam Pomfrey," he shook his head. "I was actually calling to see if you could do me another favor. You see, Hermione's presentation is tonight and I have five little boys needing a caretaker for the evening, cause Hermione will kill me if I don't show up."

"Hmm, that does seem to be a problem, doesn't it?" the corners of her mouth twitched as she tried not to smile. "I can't personally make it, but I will check with the other members of the staff and see if I can't find someone."

"Thank you so much, Madam Pomfrey," Harry sighed in relief, before disconnecting the call, she'd either call back or send someone through.

88

As soon as Harry cleared the door of the kitchen, Duo sprang into action. He seized the salt shaker and the sugar container and began pouring both onto the older boy's food. It wasn't anything too inventive, but it was a start on the road to payback.

"Why salt and sugar?" Quatre asked innocently.

"Cause ya can't see 'em," the braided boy began stirring the contents around, mixing in the two additional ingredients. "And the rest of the food drowns out the smell. So he won't know what hit him till he takes a bite."

"What if he just uses magic to fix it?" Wufei interjected, still not too sure about the whole magic thing.

"Weellllll," Duo pursed his lips in thought, "I don't think he knows how."

"How do you figure that?" the blond tilted his head to the side curiously.

"Well, think about it," he put his hand on his hip, the other raised in the air as if he were giving a lecture. "When he did magic making dinner, he only did little things, like make the food stir itself, or make the water boil faster, or have the dishes clean themselves. He didn't actually use it to cook. It only stands to reason that if he knew how, he would've just waved his wand and BAM dinner woulda been done, then he wouldn't haveta worry about being late."

"He has a point," Heero shrugged.

88

Harry made his way back to the kitchen, where the five boys were still eating quietly. He eyed them all suspiciously, remembering the look he'd spotted in Duo's eyes earlier that day. Not that it really mattered, he wasn't going to be eating or sitting down, he had to get ready for this evening, he'd pick something up on his way.

"Alright, boys," he clapped his hands together. "It looks like you're done. I want you all to head upstairs and prepare for bed. Oh, and baths will be taken. If you cannot agree to an order, I will assign time slots."

With much grumbling on the part of Duo, the five former Gundam pilots made their way slowly up the stairs to their bedrooms. The braided boy sent a subtle longing look back at Harry's plate before he exited the room.

Harry almost chuckled when he caught the look, so the braided menace _had_ done something to his food. He went over and lifted the plate to his nose. He sniffed it before taking a very small bite. He almost gagged. Salt and sugar were never a good seasoning combination, but with the food it was horrible. He was a bit disappointed with the lack of creativity, but then he reminded himself that the boy was only seven and there was still time to teach him the proper way of pranking someone.

He stopped mid-thought. Oh sweet Merlin, he was turning into a Marauder. Oh well, he shrugged, at least his father and Sirius would be proud of him.

With a shake of his head, he followed the boys upstairs. He heard the water running in their bathroom and was glad they had settled things without his intervention.

He was just finishing up when he felt the wards bend to allow someone to floo in. He quickly finished tying his shoe and rushed down the stairs, passing Wufei as he exited the bathroom. He skidded to a halt right outside the parlor, which is where the wards had led him. It appeared he was just in time too, as the fire flared green and out walked the figure of a man.

"Oh, great," he rolled his eyes as he recognized his most hated professor. "It just had to be you, didn't it?"

"Potter," Snape sneered.

"Listen, Snape," he cut in before the dour man could say anything else, "I don't have time to argue with you. But I will warn you now, you mistreat any of those boys, especially my brother, be it physically, mentally, or verbally, and I will hunt you down."

A dark brow rose in surprise, "You have my word, Potter." His lip then curled into a snarl, "Besides, I've already been threatened by the school nurse."

"Good," Harry nodded. "Now, I'll go get the boys, so you can be introduced."

He went over to the door, keeping one eye on the Potions Master, and called up the stairs for the boys. Not two minutes later, all five were tumbling into the parlor, clad in their pajamas. Harry tried, and failed, to stifle a laugh at how adorable they all looked, earning himself five chibified glares. However, he quickly composed himself and proceeded with the introductions.

"Boys, this is Professor Snape," he motioned to the dark haired man next to the fireplace. "He's going to be watching you tonight. I expect you all to be on your best behavior," he once again sent a pointed look in Duo's direction. "He is very strict and will not tolerate any disobedience on your part. Professor Snape, this is my brother, Trowa," he stood behind the unibanged boy and placed his hands on his shoulders, "and these are his friends; Heero, Duo, Quatre, and Wufei," he pointed to each in turn. "Now, I'm going to be late if I don't leave. So behave," he looked at the boys, "be good," his gaze shifted to Snape and then back to the boys, "and please go to bed on time."

With that he ran out of the room and the boys barely had time to register the front door opening and closing before they turned their full attention back to the man in front of them. Duo and Quatre moved to stand closer to their mini lovers, this man was scarier than Lady Une was back during the war. Wufei, Heero, and Trowa were also mildly disturbed by the intimidating presence, but they were much better at hiding it than the other two.

Snape eyed the 'boys' in front of him with a calculating eye. He always knew Potter was too trusting, but this took the cake. Could he not use his brain at all? Didn't it even register that a seven year old child couldn't possibly be his brother? His parents had died almost seventeen years ago. However, when Poppy had mentioned that Harry needed a sitter for his brother, he had actually jumped at the opportunity, not that he let on that he had, no, he wasn't head of Slytherin House for nothing. And seeing the auburn haired, green eyed 'boy' in front of him, he was sure he was correct in his assumption.

"Sit," he barked in his best classroom voice, and he was pleased to note that all five of them scrambled to obey. He crossed his arms over his chest before turning back to the unibanged 'boy'. "Now, tell me, Triton, how did this happen?"

The five boys shared a confused look. Who the hell was Triton? And what the hell did this man mean? Did he realize they weren't who they were pretending to be? Oh no, this could end poorly for them.

"Don't act so surprised," Snape smirked. "Just because your brother doesn't remember who you are, doesn't mean that no one knows. I remember the occasion of your birth quite well, Triton Charles Potter, and it was twenty years ago."

Original chapters written by Knoteach 102, Neph, and Yours Truly.

* * *

><p>Ammi: I hope ya'll enjoy. This took me forever to work out because I'm changing a lot of the aspects of the original, but I had to finish this chapter cause I broke the previous one into two. Anyway, I'm gonna crash now... got work in the morning.<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

My Big Baby Brother

By Ammie Hawk

Disclaimer: OMG IT LIVES!

AN: I know I haven't updated this fic in a long time, but I've had a lot to do, what with RL and all, and I've had a massive case of Writer's Block and this fic is not high on my update list. Hopefully with the length though, it will be worth the wait. Anyway, here's the next chapter.

Chapter 5: Finding Out

Harry Potter rushed into the hall, feet skidding as he slipped around the corner. Hermione was waiting for him, twisting her hands together nervously. She was dressed in a beautiful ankle length blue dress with silver embroidery around the waist. Her normally bushy hair had once again been tamed, presumably the same way she'd done it for the long ago Yule Ball.

"Finally!" she exclaimed when she saw him. "I've been waiting ages!"

Harry winced slightly, "I didn't know you'd be waiting for me. I thought you'd be in there greeting all your guests."

The witch sent him a slightly panicked look, "Almost everyone who is anyone is here! The hall is full! And that's after I got some help adding expansion charms and conjuring up extra seats!"

"Okay, take a deep breath," the green eyed wizard put his hands on her shoulders. "It's going to be fine. You've worked really hard on this, everything's been prepared and even if it's something really weird, you'll get credit where credit is due. I have faith in you, Mione."

He smiled supportively as she took a deep breath, smoothed down her dress and straightened up.

"You're right," she set her shoulders. "So what if they don't like it? It's not like we lose funding for the next three years or anything… just the next year…"

"Exactly," Harry cut in, sensing that this was not a path to go down if she was to calm down. "And if any funding does matter, it's just how much extra I'm going to donate to your department."

"Right," a determined look settled on her face. "Nothing too important. I can do this."

"Yes," the raven haired wizard nodded, ushering her into the crowded hall, "you can do this. I'm right here. Now, let's go show your adoring fans that Muggleborns can have good ideas too."

"Hermione!" a voice called as they cleared the door.

"Hannah!" she smiled in welcome as a familiar young woman headed over, slipping past the rest of the crowd that were mingling and talking quietly as they waited for the presentation to start. "I didn't know you were coming!"

"Well, while I can't stay for the actual presentation," the former Hufflepuff smiled, "I thought I'd come and congratulate you beforehand. I know how much this has meant to you. And now it's finally finished!"

"I know," Hermione shook her head, "well, at least this stage anyway."

"Wait," Harry interrupted, blinking as he looked between the two women, "you know what's going on?"

"Oh yes," Hannah nodded, "the Abbott library may not be as big as some of the pure blood ones but it's not that small. We have some very unique books in there."

"Oh?" a dark brow quirked. "Books that even the Department of Mysteries couldn't get a hold of?"

"Of course they got a hold of them," the usually bushy haired witch waved him off, "Hannah leant them to us."

"It was an honor to help," Hannah grinned. "Now, Harry, what's this I heard about you picking up five little ones?"

"Eh," Harry scratched his neck nervously, "yeah, I sort of adopted them."

"So, I'm assuming you left them at home," she nodded, a logical assumption since they weren't there with him. "Who did you get to watch them?"

"Actually Poppy got Snape to watch them for me," he shrugged. "Possibly not the best person for the job, but I was desperate."

"I can look in on them for you if you want," the former Hufflepuff offered. "It's on my way home, and I can check to make sure Snape hasn't scarred them for life or anything."

"Would you?" he smiled gratefully. "That would be brilliant. Not that I think Snape would hurt them, but I wouldn't put mental scarring past him."

"I understand. Five years of potions with him left a… lasting impression."

8888888

Silence followed Snape's statement, before the braided boy began snickering. It was like a trigger. The braided one made fun of Triton's name and nudged the glaring brunet next to him, jostling the Asian boy on his other side, who in turn began to rant and shove back. The blond sitting on the other end of the couch was trying to reach across Triton in order to stop the braided one. All in all, it was like cascading chaos, until all five of the children were talking, grunting, yelling, or ranting at each other.

The Potions Master settled back in his chair and allowed them to carry on for a few minutes. He had been a spy for over eighteen years, and before that, he survived as a half-blood living in a pureblood oriented Slytherin House for seven years. He knew a distraction technique and a cover up when he saw one.

He saw the flicks of their fingers, the slight shakes of the head, and even the way they communicated through their touches. He could give credit to whoever this group was, they were well trained and organized; flawlessly synched to one another, and able to communicate through body language alone. However, despite his admiration for their skills, Severus was not one to tolerate their antics or the implied insult to his intelligence. If they thought he was fooled by this immature display, then they were sorely mistaken.

"Enough," he finally hissed.

They froze where they were, the braided one was crawling over Triton to escape the Asian child, who was tugging on his braid and threatening to cut it off, while the glaring brunet had the Asian one in a headlock. The blond had also stretched over the scrunched Triton to rescue the braid. Severus could feel the corner of his lips twitch just a bit at the sight, but quickly tightened them.

"Sit down and do not speak," he ordered in his best teacher voice. When they had rearranged themselves properly on the couch once more, he spoke again, "Now that your tantrum is complete, have you decided to answer my question?"

Severus frowned when the five boys merely glanced at each other, but none moved to speak.

"I hope you are not foolish enough to believe that I did not see through your little stunt."

The second set of looks contained surprise and caution. Good, they weren't as oblivious as Potter.

"Now," he crossed his arms over his chest, "start talking."

The braided one suddenly grinned and leaned forward, "First off, how are we supposed to talk if you told us to be quiet? And secondly, you didn't ask a question."

The Potions professor barely refrained from snarling at the impudent brat, "If you used your brain, you would realize that you are to be quiet until such a point that I ask for your input." He pulled out his wand and tapped it lightly against his thigh. He did not miss the way the five tensed at the wand's sudden appearance. "As for the question, how did I assume five twenty-year-old men came to find themselves turned into seven-year-olds?"

They remained silent.

"Very well," Severus said as he casually waved his wand in the direction of the kitchen.

Not a minute later, a tea tray floated into the room and settled on the low table between them. From within his robes, he produced a small, thin crystal bottle and slipped one drop into each of the six steaming cups.

"This," he tapped a finger on the top of the bottle as he set it down on the tray, "is Veritaserum."

"From the Latin root _Veritas_, meaning truth," a quiet voice suddenly stated.

"Yes," the Potions Master was surprised that Potter's brother had spoken. Perhaps Triton had inherited his mother's skill along with her eyes, unlike the way his brother couldn't be around a cauldron without causing problems for all involved. "This is the most powerful truth serum available in the Wizarding world. It is a colorless, odorless potion that is almost impossible to detect. If three drops are consumed, then the drinker is forced to tell the truth. By which, I mean that they _must_ answer whatever is asked. In other words, the drinker will have no control of what they say or what they reveal. The option to not answer is not available."

The dour man paused to allow the full impact to hit the boys. They doubtlessly had secrets to hide, information they did not wish to reveal, so a threat against which they couldn't fight would no doubt unnerve them.

"Excuse me, Professor Snape, sir?" the blond sitting beside Triton seemed to be wavering between whether or not he should raise his hand.

"Yes?"

"You said that it takes three drops in order for the drinker to… to lose control, but you only placed one drop in the tea cups that, I assume, you want us to drink, including your own."

Severus knew that despite having the appearance of seven-year-olds, the boys were older and smarter, but the man was still taken aback by how observant they were.

"You are correct. If a drinker consumes one or two drops of Veritaserum, they still feel the compulsion to tell the truth especially in relation to direct questions, but they have varying degrees of control over answering ambiguous or indirect questions."

The glaring brunet grunted and questioned in a low, gruff voice, "How do you expect to make us drink it, since we know you put the potion in it?"

The Potions Master smirked at the boy and flicked his wand. Before the five knew it, the silent Compulsion spell had them picking up the cups and draining the liquid. Leisurely, Severus picked up his own cup and sipped it as the effects of the potion took hold of the boys. Of course, what he neglected to tell them was that three drops was the standard dose for full grown adults. For the body index and size of a seven-year-old, one drop had almost the same effect as three.

The former Gundam pilots had just enough time to realize that they'd swallowed the warm tea before a thick haze fell over their thinking.

The professor smirked at the faintly outraged looks that quickly changed into the slightly vacant, relaxed look associated with Veritaserum, "Now, what are your legal names, as I suppose it would be too much to ask for your birth ones? Starting with you and working to the right."

"Chang Wufei."

"Duo Maxwell."

"Heero Yuy."

"Trowa Barton."

"Quatre Raberba Winner."

Dark eyes narrowed, their names sounded familiar, very familiar, although he couldn't quite remember from where. "And how did you find yourselves at your current ages?"

"We were in a field," Duo began.

"It was a mission," the shaggy haired brunet said at the same time.

"We don't know…" the Asian boy also stated simultaneously.

"One at a time," Severus snarled. He'd forgotten how irritating it could be trying to interrogate multiple suspects under Veritaserum at once. "Triton, what happened?"

"We were ordered to locate the source of an unidentified signal. On arriving at the indicated location, 02 located the presumed source and indicated that we should approach. Noticing that he was acting out of character, we all approached in order to identify what might have caused 02's actions. Shortly after there was a flash of light and we were knocked unconscious. We awoke to find ourselves…"

"Stop," he held up his hands, examining the five slumped children closely.

It seemed that he hadn't been wrong when he had assumed the five had been a team for a long time. The instinctive use of numbers instead of names, even under truth serum was a curious Muggle habit he'd found to be associated with members of the various branches of their armed forces.

"Heero, who trained you?" he continued."

"My primary mentor was Odin Lowe. After his death, I trained under Doctor J in preparation for my role in Operation Meteor."

"Your role?" a dark brow rose curiously.

"I was a Gundam pilot."

Severus blinked. That was a new term he hadn't heard before, although it wasn't surprising. He had very little time for the Muggle world beyond the required yearly trips to greet new Muggleborns. He'd picked up some things that he needed to know in preparation, of course, but it was general things that you could find in a Muggle Studies course. Unlike the other heads of house, he had never had to deal with Muggle born students in his house, his students always had enough of a background in the Wizarding world that he could safely ignore such things.

"What is a Gundam pilot, Quatre?" he looked at the blond.

"A Gundam pilot is a pilot of the mobile suits made of Gundanium alloy," the Winner heir answered, "they were also referred to as terrorists. We fought to bring peace to the colonies during the war and later in the Eve Wars."

"I see," Severus leaned back in his chair and thought things over. While he might have originally planned to just ask about how they came to find themselves in their current state, this was a very interesting line of questioning. "Were you all Gundam pilots, Chang Wufei?"

"Yes," the dark head bobbed slightly. "I was pilot 05. Heero was pilot 01. Duo was pilot 02. Trowa was pilot 03. Quatre was pilot 04."

"The war is over now," he steepled his fingers. "What do you do now?"

"Before the incident where we ended up reduced in age, we worked for the Preventer Agency. I joined first in A.C. 196."

"Enough," he glanced at the clock. One drop should last for another twenty minutes at least. That was plenty of time, although he really should get back on track. "Triton, what is your interest in Harry Potter?"

"He is my brother," the unibanged one answered.

"_Silencio_!"

Severus was on his feet in an instant when he heard the spell. On the couch, Trowa continued to mouth his answer, outwardly calm due to the potion, but inwardly he was celebrating. Maybe now they wouldn't have to continue this interrogation. The new arrival certainly didn't sound pleased about what was going on.

"Professor Snape! What on earth were you thinking?"

Scowling, Snape looked toward the new arrival, lowering his wand, though he did not put it away.

"What a surprise," he drawled as the boys looked surreptitiously from the young woman in the doorway to their interrogator, "one of Potter's fanclub come to check on me?"

"And a good thing I did," the girl approached the group, "I suppose you thought that subjecting five children to Veritaserum—that is what you're using, right?—illegally was a good idea?"

"I see no reason to explain myself to you, Miss Abbott," the Potions professor glared.

Hannah turned a cold glare at him, her voice crisp with restrained anger as she held him at wand point, "Do you have any idea how Harry would react if I interrupted his best friend's big day to tell him that the man he entrusted his children to drugged them? I would like to not have to bring him into this, but if you don't give me answers, that's not going to happen."

"As if Potter would do anything," Snape scoffed.

He was interrupted by a sharp bark of laughter, as Hannah stared at him incredulously, "Harry is a Gryffindor with the loyalty of a 'Puff and the cunning of a Snake. You may have your reasons, but he will take this… this attack personally. And I want answers now, or we will floo right back there and let him get them."

Severus' mind flew to the more creative methods of retaliation the Wizarding Savior was known to use, and, in true Slytherin fashion, he responded to the former Hufflepuff's question, though he did it reluctantly. It was not a pleasant feeling to have to explain himself to one of his former students.

"I have reason to believe that these boys were not who they say they are. And as I am not the trusting fool that Potter is, I took action where he did not."

Hannah turned her eyes to the boys, all of whom were merely staring at her, still in the trance-like state induced by the truth serum, "Give me the antidote and get out."

"Antidote? For someone their size, the antidote would result in horrible side effects. I would advise waiting another twenty minutes before taking your spell off. Farewell, Miss Abbott," Snape swept out of the room, his robes billowing behind him.

"Sometimes, I really hate that man," she fell into the vacated chair.

After the Potions Master left, Hannah was left with five dazed seven-year-olds and a mystery. As she had entered, she had been outraged by Snape's actions, but that did not mean that she ignored everything else around her. She had heard the little auburn haired boy just before she silenced him.

"_He's my brother."_

Since the boy was under the effects of Veritaserum, he was telling the truth, at least the truth as he knew it. Everyone in the Wizarding world knew the story of the Potters, including when they died. So how could Harry have a brother that was so much younger than he was? It didn't make sense. There was the possibility that the boy had been lied to, but Hannah wanted to be sure about this before she confronted Harry with what in the world he was thinking, bringing these boys into his home.

Glancing at the clock, Hannah found that she still had fifteen minutes before the potion wore off. Sighing, she turned back to the boys and gave Harry's 'brother' a long look. There was a slight resemblance between the two, from what she could see. And, of course, their eyes matched exactly.

Biting her lip, Hannah tried to decide what she should do. After a few moments, she gave up and just decided to wait for Harry to return and question him.

8888888

Hermione had made sure that Harry, Remus, and the Weasleys all had seats reserved at a table near the front. She'd then slipped away, leaving Harry to make his own way through the throng. Not that Harry blamed her all that much, from the moment Hannah had left there had been an endless flow of people cornering them, and unlike almost every other social function they'd attended, they'd all been there to speak to Hermione. He knew exactly what that was like, although it had been nice to not be the main attraction for once he had sympathized a little with his normally reserved friend.

"Harry!" one of the twins greeted as he approached his assigned seat.

Harry grinned as he settled into the chair next to George, shooting an apologetic look to his boyfriend. Fred waved from his own seat, a WWW shirt flashing various shades of red and orange in the darkening room.

"Hey guys, can we talk later?" he asked quietly. "I've got a junior prankster on my hands who really needs help developing some originality."

"Oh?" George began. "What sort of person…"

"Could attract the eye of our oh so special silent partner?" Fred finished.

The slightly evil look that Harry developed caused the twins to grin at each other, "Well, George has already met him. It's Duo. He mixed salt and sugar in my meal tonight. I suspect that soon he's going to try and draw me into a prank war. Of course, I'm going to need supplies to show exactly why he shouldn't be challenging a master like me."

"Salt and sugar?" Fred shook his head. "Truly uninspired. After he finally concedes defeat, perhaps we could hope that you might let us help train this potential future Marauder in the fine ways of pranking?"

"I reserve the right to oversee his training," the green eyed wizard shook his head, "but I don't see why you can't help out."

"Ex-cellant…"

Harry shot Fred a slightly worried look, "Do I want to know where you learned to do a Mr. Burns' impression?"

"Ron was showing us the delights of Muggle television," his twin answered.

"Right."

Harry would have said more on the topic, but at that moment the lights dimmed and the small stage lit up, revealing Hermione standing to the side, looking very confident. The Savior, experienced as he was in identifying his best friend's moods, could see the tiny twitch in her fingers as she suppressed the need to start twisting her fingers around each other.

It was a habit she'd developed to replace her previous one of twisting her hair around her fingers after a particularly nasty brew in sixth year potions which had left her with a silver streak in the hair on the right side of her head. It had taken eight weeks for her to grow it out, even with the help of hair growing potions. It seemed that even the re-grown hair kept the streak at first. She had not been impressed, and neither had the rest of the Gryffindors. However, on the other hand, most of the Slytherins had loved it.

She finally made her way to the podium, after she was introduced by her superior. Her brown eyes surveyed the assembled crowd as she cleared her throat nervously. She shuffled her notes and gave a hesitant smile. Her eyes locked with those of her best friend, who gave her an encouraging nod. With that she found the courage she needed to proceed.

"Over the past several years, the Department of Mysteries has been studying a set of stones that was found here in the U.K. shortly after the fall of Grindlewald.

"Now, you may all be wondering why it has taken this long to figure out the stones," she shook her head and waved her wand at a covered stand behind her, slightly to the left so it was visible to the crowd. "This would be the reason. This stone was found off the coast of Ireland earlier this year. It is called the Stone of Stones, and is basically the key to unlocking the mysteries of the other four stones: Wealth, Power, Knowledge, and Youth.

"Each of the other four stones are exceedingly powerful and potentially dangerous in their own right. Together, however, if used correctly could create a virtually unstoppable force. These stones, in and of themselves, are considered neither light nor dark magic, but like the Philosopher's Stone can be used to either end. That is why, as of yesterday, the other three stones the Ministry had in their possession were distributed to three undisclosed locations and given every form of protection the Department of Mysteries could come up with. The same fate awaits the last stone as soon as our team discovers its current location.

"This stone," she motioned once again to the podium, "will remain in the Department of Mysteries for further study. Hopefully, given enough time, we will find a way to destroy the stones and keep them from falling, once again, into the wrong hands. Are there any questions?"

"I have a question," said a woman with short, curly blonde hair and bejeweled spectacles.

"Yes, Ms. Skeeter?" Hermione gave a very forced, innocently sweet smile.

Rita Skeeter cleared her throat and shifted nervously in her seat, "Yes, I'm sure we'd all like to know, Miss Granger, what the point of this presentation was? If you are just working to destroy these stones, why bother telling the world as a whole about them?"

"A very good point," she nodded. "We at the Department of Mysteries feel that in informing the Wizarding world as a whole about these potentially dangerous items, we can prevent them from falling back into the hands of people like Grindlewald, or Voldemort."

A collective shudder passed through the crowd as she said the last name. Even after his defeat by Harry at Hogwarts people still feared to speak his name.

"Those two are considered the greatest Dark wizards of our time," the former Gryffindor sighed, choosing to ignore the commotion. "Think about what they could've done if they'd had more than one stone apiece."

"Are you saying they had the stones?" someone called from the back.

"If you will recall," she smirked slightly, "I said the first stone was discovered after the fall of Grindlewald. It was actually found within his fortress. The second was found at the place Voldemort had been hiding at. So, yes, it is our assumption that they were each using one. Can you even imagine what they would've been like if they had had even one more?"

"Why doesn't the Ministry use them?" a man piped up. "Then they won't fall into the wrong hands."

Hermione gave a derisive snort, as did several other people in the crowd including Harry, "Would you really want the Ministry of Magic to have that kind of power? Think about the mistakes that were made, even in recent years. If they'd had the power these stones provide, the blunder would've been magnified a hundredfold. And then there would be the power struggle between the countries. Who would actually get to own the stone? Therefore, we feel that it is better for all involved if these stones are hidden and a way found for them to be destroyed.

"As for why I am giving this presentation," she took a deep breath, "we within the Department of Mysteries feel that knowledge on this subject would be beneficial to all. While we currently do not know how to destroy the stones, perhaps out there is someone with the knowledge to do so. We feel that by putting this information out there, the general populace will be able to help, in either identifying the missing stone or destroying them all. Now, if there are no further questions, I hope you enjoy the rest of the evening."

Original chapters by Sprinkles, Dream of Stories, Readergirl, Knoteach, and Yours Truly

* * *

><p>Ammie: Okay, so here's the next chapter. I hope ya'll enjoy, it's been hell trying to figure out what to do with this chapter, and the fic in general, but I managed. Anyway, let me know what you think.<p> 


End file.
